Technology and work
23/10/15 05:11
I’ve told this story so many times, I don’t remember if I’ve ever included it in the blog, so if you’ve already heard it, I apologize. Still, I have been thinking of it recently.
Grandpa Pogany had worked hard in his life. He was born in Hungary and emigrated to the United States where, after several adventures, he joined other Hungarian refugees in Ohio. There he worked as a laborer in a coal mine, dining by hand and loading coal. Later, after raising his family and becoming a widower, he moved to South Dakota where he assisted his children in a very small coal mining operation. When one of his sons became manager at Placerville Camp, he moved in with his son and daughter and law for the final years of his life. While living at the camp, the Conference found a way to build a new chapel for the camp. The site was prepared and the footings were poured. A large truck arrived with the cement blocks that would be used to make the basement sidewalls. The truck was equipped with a hydraulic mechanism that allowed an operator to life the pallets of block from the truck and set them onto the ground near the construction site. As I heard the story, Grandpa Pogany complained about that machine for several days afterward, saying that machines should not take jobs from men and that someday there wouldn’t be enough work for people because they kept making machines that stole their jobs.
As far as I know, no one else could see a negative side to this machine. It was saving people from grueling work that had great potential for back injuries. It was allowing the camp to get a new chapel at a more affordable cost. And there didn’t seem to be a group of volunteers who were wanting to unload the block by hand.
From the beginning of the industrial revolution until well into the twentieth century, people spoke of labor-saving devices. Machines were developed that allowed people to escape some of the most difficult and injury-causing tasks. Workplaces got safer and people began to have increased time for rest and recreation. The machines allowed for more balance to life. Work could be accomplished and leave time for other activities. People had more time to visit with family and friends and even to pursue hobbies and recreational activities.
The promise of technology has long been one of reducing everyone’s workload and giving more time for creative activities and recreation.
When it comes to the technologies of my working career, however, few have accomplished that goal. In fact, some of our modern technologies have actually increased our workloads and given us less time for recreation. I have been aware of this during the last three days of attending a regional training event. At every break in the intense schedule of classes and seminars, I would take out my cell phone, check my messages, return calls and text messages, check and respond to my email. When the sessions concluded in the evening, I turned to my computer to accomplish a few tasks before creating in bed.
You know what they say, “All work and no play makes Jack (also Ted) a dull boy.”
Let me be quick to say that the problem is not inherent in the technology itself. Just because I have a smartphone doesn’t mean that it has to come out of its carrying case instead of taking time to talk with my colleagues, read a novel, or take a walk. I am the one who made the choices. I am also aware that I am not the only one making similar choices. At least I left my laptop at the office and refrained from checking e-mail and returning messages during the actual class sessions, something that a few of my colleagues were doing.
I remember reading, back in my college years, a book by Robert Neale, entitled “In Praise of Play,” in which he made an eloquent argument for recreation as a necessary part of a religious life. Essentially, he said that play is a way of expressing gratitude. Too little play results in people who do not express gratitude. The failure to express gratitude leaves us unaware of our place in this world. That is, of course, a gross oversimplification of the ideas, but they did make an imprint on my understanding of life in general.
I have tried to maintain a balance of work and play in my life and to model that balance for our children. In that I was only partially successful. There were times when I shortchanged my family as I followed my career. I think that both of our children could tell stories of my inability to make a distinction between work and home and bringing a bit too much of my workplace into our home. It probably didn’t help that both of their parents worked together for all of their lives. Still, they have become adults with remarkably balanced lives in which they are able to leave work behind and devote time to family and recreation.
These days, however, with our children raised and continuing to love the work that I do, I find that I am tempted to engage in work more hours of the day and to devote less time to recreation. In that, modern technology seems not to help, but actually to hinder. Just recently, within the last year, I have stopped taking my work computer home. I have a personal computer at home, but I don’t use it for checking work email and responding to work messages. I post my blog from my home computer, but I don’t consider this type of writing to be work. Still, I took my work computer with me on our vacation trips this year. I didn’t check in at work every day, but I didn’t take a full week without doing any work, either.
The lesson to be learned is not to blame the technology, but to learn to use it appropriately. The challenge for me is significant, but being aware of my tendencies helps.
If we are serious about saving labor and freeing more time for recreation, we are going to have to become more wise in the choices we make. That has probably always been true. The great lessons in life need to be learned freshly by each generation.
Grandpa Pogany had worked hard in his life. He was born in Hungary and emigrated to the United States where, after several adventures, he joined other Hungarian refugees in Ohio. There he worked as a laborer in a coal mine, dining by hand and loading coal. Later, after raising his family and becoming a widower, he moved to South Dakota where he assisted his children in a very small coal mining operation. When one of his sons became manager at Placerville Camp, he moved in with his son and daughter and law for the final years of his life. While living at the camp, the Conference found a way to build a new chapel for the camp. The site was prepared and the footings were poured. A large truck arrived with the cement blocks that would be used to make the basement sidewalls. The truck was equipped with a hydraulic mechanism that allowed an operator to life the pallets of block from the truck and set them onto the ground near the construction site. As I heard the story, Grandpa Pogany complained about that machine for several days afterward, saying that machines should not take jobs from men and that someday there wouldn’t be enough work for people because they kept making machines that stole their jobs.
As far as I know, no one else could see a negative side to this machine. It was saving people from grueling work that had great potential for back injuries. It was allowing the camp to get a new chapel at a more affordable cost. And there didn’t seem to be a group of volunteers who were wanting to unload the block by hand.
From the beginning of the industrial revolution until well into the twentieth century, people spoke of labor-saving devices. Machines were developed that allowed people to escape some of the most difficult and injury-causing tasks. Workplaces got safer and people began to have increased time for rest and recreation. The machines allowed for more balance to life. Work could be accomplished and leave time for other activities. People had more time to visit with family and friends and even to pursue hobbies and recreational activities.
The promise of technology has long been one of reducing everyone’s workload and giving more time for creative activities and recreation.
When it comes to the technologies of my working career, however, few have accomplished that goal. In fact, some of our modern technologies have actually increased our workloads and given us less time for recreation. I have been aware of this during the last three days of attending a regional training event. At every break in the intense schedule of classes and seminars, I would take out my cell phone, check my messages, return calls and text messages, check and respond to my email. When the sessions concluded in the evening, I turned to my computer to accomplish a few tasks before creating in bed.
You know what they say, “All work and no play makes Jack (also Ted) a dull boy.”
Let me be quick to say that the problem is not inherent in the technology itself. Just because I have a smartphone doesn’t mean that it has to come out of its carrying case instead of taking time to talk with my colleagues, read a novel, or take a walk. I am the one who made the choices. I am also aware that I am not the only one making similar choices. At least I left my laptop at the office and refrained from checking e-mail and returning messages during the actual class sessions, something that a few of my colleagues were doing.
I remember reading, back in my college years, a book by Robert Neale, entitled “In Praise of Play,” in which he made an eloquent argument for recreation as a necessary part of a religious life. Essentially, he said that play is a way of expressing gratitude. Too little play results in people who do not express gratitude. The failure to express gratitude leaves us unaware of our place in this world. That is, of course, a gross oversimplification of the ideas, but they did make an imprint on my understanding of life in general.
I have tried to maintain a balance of work and play in my life and to model that balance for our children. In that I was only partially successful. There were times when I shortchanged my family as I followed my career. I think that both of our children could tell stories of my inability to make a distinction between work and home and bringing a bit too much of my workplace into our home. It probably didn’t help that both of their parents worked together for all of their lives. Still, they have become adults with remarkably balanced lives in which they are able to leave work behind and devote time to family and recreation.
These days, however, with our children raised and continuing to love the work that I do, I find that I am tempted to engage in work more hours of the day and to devote less time to recreation. In that, modern technology seems not to help, but actually to hinder. Just recently, within the last year, I have stopped taking my work computer home. I have a personal computer at home, but I don’t use it for checking work email and responding to work messages. I post my blog from my home computer, but I don’t consider this type of writing to be work. Still, I took my work computer with me on our vacation trips this year. I didn’t check in at work every day, but I didn’t take a full week without doing any work, either.
The lesson to be learned is not to blame the technology, but to learn to use it appropriately. The challenge for me is significant, but being aware of my tendencies helps.
If we are serious about saving labor and freeing more time for recreation, we are going to have to become more wise in the choices we make. That has probably always been true. The great lessons in life need to be learned freshly by each generation.