15. The “Myth of Separate Worlds”: An Exploration of How Mobile Technology has Redefined Work-Life Balance

Technology has changed the business practices of millions of professional workers worldwide. The hardware and software that revolutionized how people worked were initially found only in the workplace and were used only during traditional 9-to-5 working hours. The typewriter stayed on the desk when its user went home, the office telephone was physically tied to its spot by a cable and computers were too heavy to be carried anywhere. Nowadays, however, the act of performing work is not limited to specific hours at a specific location. The latest incarnations of work related technology for professional employees, such as laptops, cell phones and the Blackberry, support work outside the confines of the office, at almost any time of the day or night (Towers et al., 2006).