The Right to Disconnect

Defending the Right of Teachers to Disconnect

• Technology is compromising the health and well-being of teachers, leading to an unsustainable “always on” mentality.
• Dual-income families, larger class sizes, and more paperwork have encroached on personal time traditionally set aside for family and friends.
• Stress is the top reason teachers quit, with long hours and the burden of taking on second jobs as primary factors in early retirement.
• The proliferation of computers and cell phones is putting personal space at risk, forcing teachers to spend more time outside of school hours planning tech-enriched lessons while responding to nighttime emails and text messages.
• This pattern of intrusion can make teachers feel as though they’re on call at all hours of the day and even late into the night.
• Without new policies defending teachers’ fundamental right to disconnect, rising job dissatisfaction and deteriorating mental and physical health are real risks.
• The mere expectation that an email or text may arrive from a principal or student, and demand a response, is an intrusion into a teacher’s personal space.
• The average teacher receives up to 100 emails each day, and the pressure to reply quickly can feel irresistible.
• Employees experienced “significantly lower daily stress” when limiting the frequency of checking email to three times a day, compared with those who had no restrictions.
• Checking emails and other notifications can have a significant cognitive tax, leaving fewer resources available for other tasks and undercutting cognitive performance.
• The overflow of new technologies unsupported by adequate training is undermining competence and professionalism.
• Nearly half of the teachers surveyed spent 20 or more hours per week creating new lessons, adapting materials to online classrooms, and troubleshooting tech issues.

Take our quiz to test your knowledge on the importance of defending teachers' right to disconnect. Discover the negative impact of an "always on" mentality, and how it can lead to stress, burnout, and deteriorating mental and physical health. Explore the intrusion of technology into a teacher's personal space, and learn about the risks of rising job dissatisfaction. With this quiz, you will gain valuable insights into the challenges facing teachers today, and the need for new policies to protect their fundamental right to disconnect