Terry Sarten: Job-lag and shadow work, the pitfalls of modern living

In conversation with someone who, like me and so many of us these days, divides time between various work roles, we agreed that the juggling of priorities and schedules is now part of life.

When asked how they remember and keep track of what day, time and which role they are currently in, they replied that this was sometimes a riddle.

We immediately declared this to be "job-lag". This is a jazz version of jetlag - that displacement in time and place brought on by long-haul flights to far-flung countries that leads to waking up suddenly with no idea of where you are.

Job-lag is that same feeling, but with an "is it Tuesday and a meeting, Wednesday and Palmerston North, or is it now Thursday and going to Wellington thingie/writing this column - or am I meant to be gathering my gear to be on stage singing somewhere?"

Don't mention Monday ... don't wanna know.

With so many IDs, keys, passwords and deadlines, the only way to treat job-lag is to diary everything and always carry it with you. Along with all this, I see that we are now all doing shadow work - a term used to describe the work we do now that once was done for us by other people.

For example, once staff at petrol stations filled up your car - now we are expected to do this ourselves. (I always go a local one where the friendly staff do that.)

These days, if you want to pay a bill or connect with a service or company, you go online and spend time grappling with a cantankerous website and filling in complex forms.

Online banking is a classic example of shifting the onus for doing the work to the customer. Often they add another level of complexity to the task by updating and changing their website for no apparent reason - the changes, touted as "easy to use", are often harder to negotiate than the previous layout, creating a task that takes even more time.

Booking travel online can be like entering a maze.

Before we had the wonders of the internet, you went to a company who would ask what was needed, provided you with a price and used their expertise to organise the travel for you. Now it can take hours to work out what the online service can provide, how to access the necessary sections and then, when frustration kicks in, wasting another half-hour searching in vain for a contact number to call.

The reluctance to provide an easy-to-find contact office number creates a strong suspicion that the service does not actually want to hear the difficulties you may be having with their website, as this would involve them and cost them money.

All this is your time and not the company's time: they have successfully passed on all that work to us. It has been estimated we may spend around four hours a week on shadow work.

The other aspect to the big shift to services online is the in-built assumption that everyone uses the internet. New Zealand does have high connection rates but there is a distinct digital divide created by household incomes.

There is also a generational gap. For many of those in their 80s, going out to post a cheque is their way of managing these tasks. For some it is part of being out in the community, seeing people and feeling socially engaged.

With an internet connection you can order food, books, a bed or a bed-mate, manage your finances, get world news, watch cats on video (see http://youtu.be/u-4CLaRDbgA) or ponder the audacity of trolls and scammers - and never, ever leave the house.

-Terry Sarten is a writer, musician, social worker and working member of the Satirista - feedback: tgs@inspire.net.nz