While U.S. employers are embracing technology like artificial intelligence and slashing jobs, some also don’t want their human employees using personal phones at work. At certain workplaces, cell phones are even locked up.
According to a report from The Financial Times, digital verification company Id.me “rolled out phone pouches for about 290 support employees more than three years ago to better protect sensitive client data.” These are small, sealed pouches that can only be opened at a magnetic locking station.
Id.me employees keep the pouches on hand during shifts so they can hear urgent calls or notifications. Kamilah Muiruri, one of those employees, told the outlet that she actually likes the practice.
“It gets us to connect with each other,” Muiruri explained. “I didn’t really know people in the office as I was focusing on the friends I have outside the office. Now, we are very close as a team… [and] very big on going out together.”
While Id.me’s move was based in security concerns, The Independent also noted that JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has called phones in meetings “disrespectful,” and enforced a no-smartphone rule in meetings as of last November.
Business Insider reported last month that JPMorgan Chase is now pushing its engineers to use artificial intelligence more and “tracking their use with internal dashboards visible to thousands of their peers, ramping up pressure on workers to prove they’re keeping up.” In February, Investors Business Daily also reported that Dimon said AI jobs displacement may happen “faster than we can adjust to.”
As adults face a potential cutoff from their smartphones in the U.S., many school-age kids have already been subject to phone bans. According to Close Up Washington D.C. foundation, at least 35 states had enacted some form of restriction on student cell phone use as of last year.
“We need more rigorous research on the effects of phone bans: not just on the factors already studied, but on mental health and social media usage,” said a report on those bans published last October by the Albert Shanker Institute, an education-focused non-profit.
Some research has shown that phone bans can have a positive impact. However, Richard Culatta, CEO of the International Society for Technology in Education, said they might be bad for students.
“It’s generally a terrible idea to ban a tool they’ll need to use in the future,” he said. “It harms kids when we aren’t teaching them to use technology effectively.”
Even as some companies try to restrict phone use, most people working in the modern world will probably tell you they need their phone for some tasks. This can include two-factor authentication sign ins and using the ever-growing collection of apps we seem to need to get through the day.
Adrian Chadi, an associate professor at the University of Southampton cited by The Financial Times, said evidence that phone bans improve productivity is not definitive. Though his research indicates they may help with simple, routine jobs by reducing distractions, the impact is less clear when it comes to complex work.
“It is very difficult for researchers to determine the effects of a ban compared to a situation without such a ban in the same organizational context,” Chadi said. “It is also possible that employees will perceive the ban very negatively if using their mobile phone offers obvious advantages at work, [especially] as people have become accustomed to the constant availability of their mobile phones.”
