New Delhi: An employee shared on Reddit how having two phones helped manage anxiety, burnout, and maintain a work-life balance. They bought a cheap phone with their old number just for work and used a separate phone for personal life. The work phone is turned on only during work hours and then switched off and put away, creating a strong boundary between work and personal time. This change stopped constant work notifications after hours, reducing stress, guilt, and improving mental health significantly.
Benefits of using two phones for work and personal life are widely recognized. Having a dedicated work phone helps compartmentalize work and personal life, enabling people to mentally switch between professional and personal roles. This separation prevents work from spilling over into personal time and reduces distractions from non-work calls or texts during office hours. Being able to physically switch off the work phone after shifts prevents burnout and helps employees fully “clock out”.
Besides mental peace, two phones may also protect privacy, make work communication more professional, and simplify tracking work-related expenses. Workers can easily leave their work phone behind while on vacation or outside office hours, reinforcing the boundary that they are off the clock. However, some warn about the inconvenience of carrying and managing two devices, but many find the improved mental health and focus outweigh the hassle.
Alternatives like phone settings to separate work and personal profiles exist, but many prefer a separate device as it provides a stronger and easier-to-enforce boundary against work intruding into personal life. Importantly, employees with health concerns related to stress, like tinnitus in this case, find this strict boundary critical.
