Business Quote by Beatrice Webb
“The interruptions of the telephone seem to us to waste half the life of the ordinary American engaged in public or private business; he has seldom half an hour consecutively at his own disposal - a telephone is a veritable time scatterer.”
About This Quote
Source Book: Sociology of Industry, 1917
The telephone fragments attention, stealing time from productive work and personal control.
In simple terms: Phones waste time and break focus.
Key Takeaway
Limit phone use to protect focus.
Themes
time management
technology
productivity
Mood
frustrated
reflective
Type
observational
critical
When to use this quote
- office work
- remote work
- personal time management
Key Concepts
attention fragmentation
social impact
Questions to Reflect On
- How can you schedule phone use to minimize disruption?
- What tasks suffer most from interruptions?
A Different Perspective
Phones can also enable efficient communication when used wisely.
![“[S]ometimes, when you are a food person, the possible irrelevance of what you are doing doesn’t cross your mind until it’s too late. (Once, for example, when I was just starting out in the food business, I was hired by the caper people to develop a lot of recipes using capers, and it was weeks of…” quote by Nora Ephron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/d79/nora-ephron-1217_business_s-ometimes-when-you-are-a-food-person-th_980.jpg)
![“If the State does not acquire supremacy over [vast private] enterprises, it becomes their puppet, and they become the real State.” quote by Bertrand Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/bad/bertrand-russell-69_acquire_if-the-state-does-not-acquire-supremacy_1379.jpg)