The French Limit on Email

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/09/opinion/the-french-limit-on-email.html

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To the Editor:

Re “ ‘Right to Disconnect’ From Work Email and Other Laws Go Into Effect in France” (news article, Jan. 3):

France’s labor minister, Myriam El Khomri, understates the matter when she says the “boundary between professional and personal life has become tenuous.” A state of constant, ambient workload has emerged thanks to our devices, an arms race of connectivity for the office worker.

Employers would do well to remember that this ambient work goes hand in hand with ambient play, though: Facebook and Twitter report that their sites are most active during office hours.

I predict that the new provision in France’s labor law limiting the potential for after-hours work will have the unexpected effect of increasing productivity. A recent Gallup Poll found that most American workers have become convinced that their permanent digital connections to other workers are a positive.

It’s hard to imagine Americans making that French leap of faith in the value of disconnection.

MICHAEL HARRIS

Vancouver, British Columbia

The writer is the author of the nonfiction books “Solitude” and “The End of Absence.”