Some bosses, however, encourage their employees to respond to digital messages within a certain time frame rather than immediately.

To counteract work-life interference among her employees, Sycamore Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Rose Treml said she encourages her staff to sift through emails at specific times while they are at work.

“I think it’s about focusing on the task at hand and leaving other hours of the day with uninterrupted work,” she said.

As do others, Treml admitted it’s tough to kick a habit to respond to digital messages in nonwork hours when one sees them on the phone or computer.

“I certainly don’t expect my employees to do it,” she said.

Barber, who would like to continue exploring the phenomenon in broader terms, said she hopes to raise awareness of the problem of message-based communication interference with people’s private lives and have them talk about it more explicitly to their supervisors.

“Here you are, an employee, trying to impress your boss, maybe in an unstable job market where you are afraid you might lose your job or you have to respond quickly to get a promotion, those perceptions may or may not be accurate,” she said. “You think you need to respond within five minutes [and] your supervisor is perfectly happy if you respond by the end of the day or maybe in two days.”