Earphone Isolation

babaHR

Doris Kerns Goodwin wrote in Wait Till Next Year about how the advent of television isolated neighbors from each other.  I think that Ipods and earphones are isolating our workers from each other, and I am concerned.

When I do a walkthough of our office, everyone seems to have earphones on.  And people e-mail each other.  I don't know if our employees actually talk to each other any longer.  Even when workers walk for fitness during breaks, they have earphones on and don't seem to chat.

Should I just be happy that workers are probably more productive or do you think there is a morale/teamwork issue involved with this "earphone isolation"?

regdunlop

i sometimes feel like i am interrupting a "delicate genius" (as george costanza would say) when i approach an employee wearing headphones, but it hasn't reached the point of becoming a big deal as far as productivity and teamwork is concerned. people are becoming more isolated ... it wa sonly a matter of time before it showed up in the office. i think it was the new york times that printed an interesting article on the phenomenon when it reviewed the book "bowling alone." some companies are banning e-mail and ipods on certain days of the week to encourage more face-to-face conversations, but my company hasn't gone that far.

bevhunt

Reg, I like your idea of banning the earphones one day a week! 

Also, I am often afraid that I will startle someone wearing earphones when I come up in back of them, so I try to make a lot of noise so they hear me first.

ntk104

Do you see a morale/teamwork issue?  If you do, then perhaps you should delve more deeply into that issue.  If there is no morale/teamwork issue, I don't think I'd worry about it.  People are there to work not to socialize during working time. 

Sometimes the earphones may to used to lessen distractions so the user may concentrate on what he/she is doing. 

I like the idea of having no earphone use 1 day a week.  Perhaps if this were done you could see how people actually do interact.