It’s 9 PM. You’re having dinner with your family. Your phone buzzes. A Slack message. You ignore it. It buzzes again. And again. Your partner gives you that look.
You pick up the phone. “Just checking,” you say. But you both know you’re about to disappear into work mode for the next hour.
Welcome to the always-on culture, where your availability is expected 24/7 and boundaries are seen as lack of commitment.
The invisible leash
Technology was supposed to free us. Work from anywhere, anytime. Flexibility. Liberation.
Instead, it created an invisible leash. Now that you can work from anywhere, you’re expected to work from everywhere. Now that you can respond anytime, you’re expected to respond all the time.
That green dot on Slack has become a performance metric. Are you online? Are you responsive? Are you available when someone needs you?
The expectation is never stated explicitly. No one writes “you must respond to messages within 5 minutes at all hours.” But the culture makes it clear. The person who responds immediately gets praised. The person who waits until morning gets questioned.
How we got trapped
It started innocently. Check email in the morning before work. Answer a quick Slack while having coffee. No big deal.
But boundaries eroded gradually. Morning email became evening email. Weekend Slack became normal. That one emergency response at midnight became the expectation that you’re always available.
Companies normalized this by making it convenient. Work email on your phone. Slack notifications everywhere. VPN access from home. All framed as flexibility for your benefit.
But whose benefit is it really? You can work from the beach, sure. But you’re also expected to join that meeting from the beach. Answer that question from vacation. Fix that bug from your kid’s soccer game.
The anxiety it creates
Always-on culture breeds constant anxiety. Every notification could be urgent. Every silence could mean you’re letting someone down. Every moment offline feels risky.
You can’t fully relax anymore. Even when you’re not working, you’re thinking about work. Wondering if someone messaged you. Feeling guilty for not checking.
Your nervous system never truly rests. You’re in a perpetual state of low-grade stress, always waiting for the next ping, the next demand on your attention.
Vacations become stressful. Do you check email? What if something breaks? What if they need you? You’re physically away but mentally still at work, unable to disconnect.
What it costs you
Your relationships suffer. You’re never fully present. Always one notification away from mentally leaving the room. Your loved ones learn to compete with your phone for your attention.
Your health declines. Poor sleep because you check messages before bed. Elevated stress hormones because you’re never truly off. Burnout because rest becomes impossible.
Your productivity drops. Constant interruptions fragment your focus. You’re busy all the time but accomplishing less. Reactive instead of proactive. Firefighting instead of building.
Your sense of self erodes. When work can reach you anywhere, anytime, where do you exist outside of work? Who are you when you’re not responding to Slack?
Breaking free
Set explicit boundaries
Decide when you’re available and when you’re not. Communicate it clearly. “I’m available for urgent issues until 7 PM. After that, I’ll respond in the morning unless it’s a true emergency.”
Define what constitutes an emergency. Production down? Emergency. Feature request? Not an emergency. Can wait until morning.
Turn off notifications
Your phone doesn’t need Slack. Your laptop doesn’t need to ping you every time someone posts in a channel. Schedule Do Not Disturb. Make it automatic.
If people need you urgently, they can call. Real emergencies warrant phone calls, not Slack messages.
Create physical separation
Work laptop stays in your work space. When you leave that space, work stays there. No “just quickly checking” from the couch. No Slack in bed.
If you work from home, designate a work zone. When you leave it, you’re off duty. Physical boundaries create mental boundaries.
Delay responses intentionally
Not every message deserves an immediate response. Even if you see it. Especially if you see it outside work hours.
Train people that you won’t respond immediately. They’ll learn to plan accordingly. And you’ll regain control of your time.
Take real time off
Vacation means off. Not checking email. Not being available for questions. Actually disconnecting.
Set an out-of-office message. Delegate your responsibilities. Make it clear you’re unavailable. The company survived before you. It will survive while you rest.
For managers enabling this culture
If you manage people, you’re either part of the problem or part of the solution.
Stop sending non-urgent messages after hours. Even if you’re working late, schedule send for morning. Your email at 10 PM creates expectation.
Respect people’s time off. Don’t message them on vacation. Don’t expect responses on weekends. Model the behavior you want to see.
Create explicit norms. “We don’t expect responses after 6 PM.” Say it. Mean it. Enforce it. Make it safe for people to be unavailable.
Evaluate people on their work, not their availability. The developer who responds at midnight isn’t more dedicated. They’re just more burned out.
The right to disconnect
Some countries are implementing “right to disconnect” laws. Making it illegal for employers to expect responses outside work hours. Because they recognize what we’re learning the hard way: always-on culture is unsustainable.
You don’t need a law to claim this right. You can create your own right to disconnect. But it requires courage. Setting boundaries when the culture pushes against them feels risky.
Here’s the truth though: companies that require constant availability don’t deserve your best work. They’re getting your exhausted, fragmented, stressed-out work.
Good companies understand that rested employees are better employees. That boundaries improve work quality. That life outside work makes you better at work.
Reclaiming your time
Your time is yours. Not your company’s. Not your manager’s. Yours.
You’re selling your company 40 hours per week of focused work. Not 24/7 of fragmented attention. Not unlimited availability. Not your evenings, weekends, and vacations.
Being a good developer doesn’t mean being always available. It means doing excellent work during work hours, then logging off and living your life.
So tonight, when that Slack message comes during dinner, let it wait. The message will still be there in the morning. Your family won’t.
Your phone has a power button. Use it.
