BulkSMS.com is hosting a series of seminars across SA, with the aim to help users take control of their mobile phone communications and to stop the devices from "controlling" them.
The first seminar takes place on 17 April, at the Cullinan hotel, in Cape Town, with subsequent events scheduled for 15 May, at the Balalaika Hotel, in Sandton, and 28 May, at the Blue Waters hotel, in Durban.
Topics that will be covered include mobile phones and SMS etiquette, how to clean up information pollution, increasing focus and productivity in the 21st century office and strategies for the automated lifestyle.
"Mobile phones have become an indispensable part of your working life and this increasingly comes at a psychological cost," says BulkSMS in a media statement.
The company cites a 2005 WebMD report, which showed that the use of cellphones can cause work worries to spill over into home time for both men and women.
"But only women seem to suffer from the opposite effect with cellphones carrying family concerns into the office," the report says.
"Current practise is to answer calls immediately, or it is left to bother those around us. Yet, our decision to respond to the call or SMS message means that we disturb the people around us [anyway]; possibly broadcasting personal issues in the workplace and interrupting colleagues," says BulkSMS MD Piet Streicher.
"In addition, if we answer work-related calls at home, outside of office hours, we could be taking up the precious time spent with family."
The result is that the increase in mobile phone communications for work and private purposes can become a source of irritation for those we physically interact with on a daily basis, he says.
Netucation MD Ramon Thomas says the biggest myth of the last 10 years has been how technology allows users to multi-task and increases their productivity.
"There is an entire genre of research focused on the multitasking myth and my biggest concern is how the underlying psychological stress, caused by mobile phones and Internet usage, is going unnoticed among the wider business community," he says.
For more information about the workshops, contact BulkSMS.
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