Before:

We had a fixed phone line at home. We had a fixed phone line on our desk at the office. There was a letterbox in front of the house and a pigeon hole at some central location in the office.
And we were not reachable when sleeping, when in meeting, when commuting, …

Now:

We have a fixed phone line at home. We have a fixed phone line on our desk at the office. We have a mobile phone in our pocket or connected to the hands-free system in the car. The computers and tablet are running Skype or another communication software that shows every contact if we are “available”, “busy” or “not to be disturbed”. There are still letterboxes and pigeon holes but also e-mails, instant messaging, …
The fixed lines fall back on the mobile if there is no answer after 5 tones. We are reachable when sleeping, when in meeting, when commuting, … People call you when you don’t answer their e-mail after 5-10 minutes.

Next week:

I will be abroad, following some conference. What if I only carry a wifi-enabled music player running just Skype? I will be reachable between talks not during talks, at the conference center but not when commuting, at the hotel but not when reading or sleeping. Will it really make a difference? I wish I were not that connected.

P.S. of course this is a first world problem:

🙂