The Instagram Logo is about to Blow up the Workplace

Millennials are not the biggest cohort in the workforce. And they like cellphones. Blah blah blah, you’ve heard that whole schtick before.

But it means that Wednesday’s Instagram update is something you have to pay attention to. The instagram update is going to influence HR without the courtesy of a heads up. Because change is hard, people are angry. Others are commenting on the grim pervasiveness of peak flat design.

For some woeful 20 somethings, the new Instagram will be far too different to use, which means roughly a third of their time has to be reallocated. Office managers are encouraged to offer grieving rooms with slideshows and tastefully plated food. Many supervisors are pushing Snapchat, Twitter and even an almost-obsolete Facebook on their charges. Janet Schill, a New Jersey project manager “without steady dopamine and social affirmation in the form of over-edited pictures, my whole team is listless for an hour after lunch and when they arrive at the office. One of my employees, stayed late because she check Instagram on the train and didn’t know what to do”.

Yet Instagram’s pariah status is only temporary. Bosses everywhere would be remiss to let this crisis pass them by without trying to make the lull in smartphone prevalence permanent. Now is the perfect time to institute a no phone rule or other longterm measures. Carpe diem this short-lived lapse in smart-phone addiction and redirect everyone’s attention to their job, email, or the office intranet.