Americans Work on The Computer in Bed

Portable and mobile devices revolutionize habits: Americans now go to sleep and wake up with the laptop close at hand.

A place of rest and intimacy has become a last frontier of free work hours: not even the bedroom is safe from the effects of the “always on” revolution and people who are always connected. The computer and work have now brought themselves between the sheets.

Since laptops, PDAs and other mobile devices are used in everyday life, as many as 75 percent of Americans confessed to being in bed with their beloved laptop on for work before they fall asleep and they make sure that, on awakening, the computer and its documents, e-mail and the like are immediately at hand.

Credant Technologies, a Dallas company that deals with data protection and management, conducted research on a sample of 300 people that has brought to light the existence and habits of “bed workers:” 57 percent say they work in bed at least 4-6 hours a week, often making use of unprotected wireless networks. As many as 54 percent of the connections are not properly encrypted, a figure all the more alarming when one considers that 44 percent of devices connected to these networks contain important work documents and files.

“Now people are mobile and will work anywhere – even in bed,” recognizes the vice president of Credant, Michael Callahan. “However, if important and sensitive data is stored on computers or handheld devices that go missing, the consequences may be negative and far-reaching for both the employee and the employer.”

Security is an issue virtually ignored even by those who work and transform technology into real obsessions, like the 4 percent who quietly admit that checking e-mail and giving work one last look are the last things they usually do before going to sleep.

The effect on their love lives are not very pleasant, either: Generally partners who have to deal with the presence of the computer in bed find their partner’s habit very annoying. The most unfortunate, though, are those living with the 8 percent who confess to spending more time in front of their mobile gadget than with the family.

A good night kiss is a small consolation: 96 percent say they remember to kiss their partner only when the “third wheel” is finally turned off.