People can reach us in a myriad of ways. Not only do we have phones that send and receive texts, along with the rare phone call, we also have social media, and other messaging services like WhatsApp. In short, we’re very reachable. All the time. What’s more, we all think we have to be reachable all the time. If we’re not, there must be something wrong. But maybe that’s not the case, and here are two reasons why.

If you’re always available, are you  paying attention to the present moment?

Most of us have a pretty committed relationship with our smartphones. We’re tied at the hip and always ready for the next ping, buzz and notification. But always being reachable means you’re always on standby.

And this doesn’t mean you’re there for people when they need you, like an ER doctor. Instead, it’s that you’re always expecting something – anything. Your life becomes a string of “What if’s” and FOMO.

What’s more, if you’re always expected to be reachable, what do you end up paying attention to? Chances are, you focus on what could happen or what you want to happen, instead of what’s actually happening.

If you’re always available, you can’t really dive into what you’re doing

When you’re always available, that means that at any given time, you can get interrupted. This goes for everything from cooking, to reading, to work projects, to  – oh my gosh! – thinking.

Sure, we can always return to what we were doing, it can take a while to bounce back after distraction. Sometimes, we can take up to 20 minutes to refocus after being interrupted.

If that’s the case, how is anyone supposed to get anything done when everyone is waiting, ready and willing to be interrupted 24/7?