To download a printable version of this transcript, click here.
 
 
iQuestions Faculty, Pat Gelsinger 
 
 
Question: 
 
With new technology, how can I take control of my life when everyone 
thinks they can reach me any time? 
 
Answer:  
 
Wow, in today’s world, you could be 24/7 between phones, cell 
phones, internet, laptops, Wi-Fi, iMacs. People can reach you 24/7.  
 
How do you keep it in balance? Everybody thinks they have a stake on 
your time. 
 
Well, sometimes you’ve just got to turn it off. One of the things I find 
for myself is, I come home at night, I plug in my laptop computer, I 
flip it open—and guess what? I’m still at work. I may be in the home 
and not in the workplace anymore, but I’m still as plugged in to work 
as if I was inside of the building. Sometimes, you just have to turn it 
off. 
 
You have to find those times where you balance, where you relax, 
where you just put your full attention to your wife and to your kids or 
your spouse. Find ways that you really can get detached. Make it clear 
to other people that “here are the times where you can reach me. I’m 
going to make myself available.” At my job, you can imagine, people 
are expecting to be able to get my attention and ask me questions.  
 
But also, “Here are the times I’m not available. Here are the times 
where I’ve turned the cell phone off. Don’t bug me. Here are the times 
where, yes, I’m willing to be 100% available, but here are the times 
where I’m not.” 
 
 
 
For us as a family, we’re dedicated to taking our vacation each year, 
and we go away to places, and important on my wife’s mind is they 
don’t have cell phone coverage there. Wow, that’s a great vacation 
spot, because all of a sudden, I’m not as accessible.  
 
So, find ways that you really can get disconnected. 
 
Technology is wonderful. It gives you new avenues to connect with 
people that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to—and that is fabulous 
and wonderful for both productivity in the workplace, as well as 
keeping in touch with all sorts of friends and family—but you also have 
to find times where you get disconnected.  
 
Gelsinger -2- 
To download a printable version of this transcript, click here.