Working in Bed

Do you work in bed? If so, you’re not alone. About a quarter of workers in the UK reported using a mobile device such as a laptop in bed before they went to sleep, according to a new survey of 300 city workers by Credant Technologies, a firm that specializes in security for mobile devices. Moreover, of those workers who tote a laptop to bed, about 57 percent say they work from bed between 2 and 6 hours every week. About 8 percent of people admitted that they spend more time on their mobile devices during the evening than talking to their partners.

This reminds me of a story BusinessWeek ran in 2007 about Raymond Cahnman who worked 12 to 16 hours per day trading U.S. government securities and European bank instruments along with corn, wheat, gold and other metals. That story recounted how Cahnman set up a special computer array that would swing over his bed so he could check markets around the world in the middle of the night. He was often jolted awake by computer-generated alerts.

This sounds like a nightmare to me. It’s not that I object to working at home. In fact, I’ve got a home office and I often stay up late writing. But, I’ve banned all laptops and smart phones from my bedroom. As it is, I’m prone to waking up at 3 a.m. worrying about deadlines and the last thing I need is easy access to my e-mail at that hour.

What do you think? Are you a fan of working in bed?