Anna Fielding, associate editor: “The commute isn’t work time”

I commute with a book. Made of paper. My commute is stressful enough without the expectation that I will be fiddling with my phone along the way. I need the mental space. I’m doing something that is nothing to do with work and nothing to do with Transport for London and nothing to do with that absolute fool standing in front of me who won’t take his backpack off and keeps smacking it into everybody else.

So many of us work long hours, me included. And, like so many of us, I also do work at home. But when I do, I focus on something specific. Transcribing an interview. Writing or editing a piece. Planning a project. Solid, distinct tasks with definite endpoints. Work then can be completed with satisfaction and put away. I refuse to get stuck in the infinite loop of my inbox. I can check it if I need to, but I don’t have it linked to the mail app on my phone. That way madness lies.

Dealing with email while commuting has practical difficulties. The signal is uncertain and I type on a phone at about a quarter of the speed I do with a keyboard. I could probably deal with three or four emails on my way into work. I can deal with every single one of them with just 15 minutes at my desk.

I’m also, quite emphatically, not a morning person. I need that 25 minutes with a book. I need it to make sure I’m something approaching sane and competent by the time I’m at my desk. (The other effect of my night owl brain means my 8am inbox is generally quite empty: I’m often in the office later than most and deal with everyone else’s end-of-day emails before I leave.)

The commute isn’t work time. I could try to work and fill it with anxiety about wavering Wi-Fi and wondering if messages had actually sent. Or I could acknowledge that everything has its place.

My commute is email-free, and better for it.

The great debate: should we really be checking work emails on the commute?