In a world were many busy professionals live by their blackberries, "Mobile snacking" is a way for those pressed for time to bridge the gap between work and life.
Filling the tables of a busy Toronto coffee shop, men and women shout orders and frantically type on the tiny keyboards of their smartphones, while at some of the tables there are relaxed individuals watching highlights from last night’s game or reading a colleague’s blog.
While these individuals may feel embarrassed that they are using these technologies for personal entertainment, "Mobile Snacking" is emerging as a new way of surviving the modern workday.
“From news alerts to watching videos to sending emails, downloading information is becoming as common as downing a granola bar,” said Michael Moskowitz, general manager and vice president of the Canada and Latin America division of Palm, Inc., a company that makes portable communications devices.
“As on-the-go Canadians consume content in bite-size, easy-to-digest portions, mobile snacking is becoming more mainstream,” Moskowitz said.
In the wake of a Statistics Canada report released yesterday saying one in three Canadians identify themselves as workaholics, a study by Palm Canada and Leger Marketing says that three in five Canadians consider themselves “always on” between personal and family responsibilities. The report indicated 60 percent of respondents said that technology is the key to balancing family and work commitments.
Unlike many trends, this phenomenon is not one particularly geared toward young people. The study focused on tech-savy middle aged users (those 30 to 60yrs old) and found that they are fond of wireless entertainment when they have short breaks during the day where they browse wireless content.
Almost one in four respondents said that they are defined by the technological devices they use. More than half of those polled said that they rely on cell phones and PDAs to keep them connected to the workplace, while one in five use an “all-in-one” device that combines telephone, internet and applications.
45 percent of those surveyed use PDAs, cell phones and laptops to unwind by listening to music, viewing video, and checking social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook.
Analysts attribute this trend as a result of Canadians working more hours and adopting mobile lifestyles. Over a quarter of those surveyed said that their work day was 10 hours or more.
According to Statistics Canada, workaholics are "likely to be dissatisfied with the balance between their work and family time," and their job satisfaction is less than other workers. The increased connectivity that mobile devices provide promise ideally increase productivity but they could equally as well be a distraction.
While it remains to be seen what implications these communication technologies will have on those who rely on them, chances are that Mobile Snacking will be hitting your office’s break room sometime soon.
