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The bulging email inbox and tide of digital notifications is a familiar gripe for many workers. These features of modern work often keep us from more rewarding and productive tasks, after all. But what we might see as a personal frustration could actually have far broader implications. As the temperature cranks up in a worker’s buzzing brain, their ability to remain friendly over digital communications drops.
Draining the brain battery – by answering emails after hours, for example – might mean you’re passing weariness, irritability or frustration straight over to the person on the other screen. Marc Fullman, of the University of Sussex, researches how recipients respond to messages on different platforms – and his findings are important for worn-out workers everywhere.
Recipients tended to find abrupt messages more dispiriting over email than on Teams – even when the content was identical. While this offers insight into how to mitigate unintended offense after a long day, a better answer must surely be to avoid weariness in the first place. The compulsion to be always on isn’t an inevitable part of modern work, Fullman argues. His advice could help both workers and employers step back from the “infinite workday.”
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Sarah Reid
Senior Business Editor
The Conversation U.K.
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Marc Fullman, University of Sussex
When boundaries around working hours grow increasingly blurred, this can lead to terse online exchanges that sap recipients’ wellbeing.
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Business
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Erran Carmel, American University Kogod School of Business; Joseph Garbowski, American University
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Economics
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Junaid B. Jahangir, MacEwan University
Was Cinderella’s happy ending with Prince Charming really largely the result of personal ambition? This is the kind of question I address in the course Economics for Everyone.
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Work
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Scott Morgenstern, University of Pittsburgh
The number of farmworkers in the US with H-2A visas has tripled since 2013.
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Supply chain
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Benjamin Selwyn, University of Sussex
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Development
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Alicja Paulina Krubnik, McMaster University
Public Development Banks provide affordable financing, direct resources where urgently needed and align funding with long-term development strategies.
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Trade
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Felicity Deane, Queensland University of Technology
Has Australia’s beef industry been sold out for the benefit of a trade deal with the United States? Or is this just a poorly timed announcement?
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Economy
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Alan Renwick, Lincoln University, New Zealand
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Muzeeb Shaik, Indiana University; Adithya Pattabhiramaiah, Georgia Institute of Technology; John Costello, University of Notre Dame; Mike Palazzolo, University of California, Davis; Shrihari Sridhar, Texas A&M University
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