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A light glow emits from the other side of the bed. I look to see my wife’s head silhouetted against a smartphone screen. The clock reads 2:30 am. “What are you doing?” I ask. “I’m just replying to messages from my colleagues,” she replies, clacking away on the tiny keyboard on her screen. She says it like it will only take a minute, but I know she’ll still be there in an hour. This happens all too often, and it’s why I’ve ended up doing something I never thought I’d do – agree with the French. Our Gallic cousins introduced new legislation in May that bans companies from sending work-related emails to employees after 6 pm. This is part of controversial revisions to the country’s labor laws, which for years have set a maximum 35-hour working week. With the emergence of smartphones and other mobile devices, we’re constantly connected. However, for some people, it has become increasingly hard to switch off, figuratively and literally. In my experience, emails are not the problem; it’s instant-messaging apps like WeChat and WhatsApp that are the bigger nuisance. For chatting with family and friends for free, especially those overseas, they are a godsend. But the habit in China is to add virtually everyone you meet on WeChat, including your boss and colleagues that you wouldn’t otherwise fraternize with away from work. Before mobile devices gave us 24-hour access, if someone remembered late at night or on the weekend that they needed to talk to a co-worker about something, they’d make a note to ask them next time at the office; if it was urgent, they’d pick up the phone and call. Now, people just fire off an instant message and expect an equally speedy response. | 
