Thought about web-monitoring, I came across the check-in function of facebook. There are plenty of convenience and entertainment which I can access through the cherish iPhone. Frankly speaking, I use my iPhone to log in and chat with my friends, update my status and gallery all the time even when I was working at my office sometimes. Yet there is a function of facebook which I won’t give a try. That is the “check in” function which the facebook can detect your current location and display it to your friends who were also using the facebook. It was a true story happened in my working place. A colleague of mine used this function when he was on his duty that day. When he took his meal break at a favorite place where he was not supposed to be, he “checked in” himself through the facebook in convenience of his iPhone for fun. That’s when he was allocated by his superior that all the colleagues were warned about the incident although no one was punished at that time.
On the other hand, subordinates would also be able to monitor if their boss is working in the office. My father told me that when he is in office, he would probably login MSN. It not only gives him a way to communicate with his colleagues, but also to monitor his boss. He clearly knew that his boss would go online on MSN when he is in his room, in order to make sure that he is there or he is not there, the staff of the company would login MSN to check if the boss is "Available".
I think it is so-called "Two-way communication".
This is a good example of technology creating new problems. The problem partly arises because of the way that the new technologies mix our lives up in new ways. For example, it is becoming harder and harder to keep work separate from play, as your colleague found out!
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Christoph said! The new technology brings us a lot of convenience but also inconvenience. If we really want to benefit from these new technologies, we have to use them wisely but not stupidly. Sometimes, the nature and idea of the functions may not be bad, but if we use it in a wrong way, it may cause troubles for ourselves.
ReplyDeleteIt is so interesting that technological devices create physical (whether boss is avaliable) and psychological (daydreaming??!!) constraints in work place!! It is a very good idea to supervise people in a more relaxed way.
ReplyDeleteMy friend also like using the function of "check-in" when he was riding bicycle. He would check in a place when he rode to somewhere. He said it can let his parents knew where he had been to and had no worries about him. I think it is a positive way to use the check-in function.
ReplyDeleteAggie, it is interesting to hear the "Available" function of MSN in your father's workplace.It is a good way to ensure whether the boss is in office or not. However, sometimes I appear to be offline when I am online. Therefore, is the status of MSN or Facebook really reliable?? HAHA, maybe we should believe what we see.
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