What ‘Sent from my . . .’ in your emails says about you

The average U.S. employee clocks nearly 21 full business days working from their phone each year. That’s according to new research from Adobe Acrobat, who surveyed over 1,000 full-time employees on their habits and opinions around work phone etiquette. 

As worklife boundaries continue to blur, the work doesn’t stop when you step out of the office’s four walls. For many employees, they now carry it with them in their pocket, checking emails first thing from bed, or making calls on the go between meetings. 

In the early days of the iPhone, the “sent from my . . .” signature conveyed status. Back in 2013, The Atlantic referred to it as a “humble brag.” More than a decade on, and over half have used the brief disclaimer that you’re simply too busy to be sat at a desk typing out a response.

Turns out those three words are dividing the office: Gen Z are more likely to say it looks rushed or informal, while older generations consider it normal work culture. 

​​Gen Z respondents report spending 23% less time on their phones for work than older workers, with over one in four reporting it makes them anxious. And 21% even worried it will get them fired. 

This generation gap may simply be a case of seniority. Only 41% of entry-level employees have sent an email with a “Sent from my . . .” signature, the lowest of any job level. 

Junior employees may feel they still have something to prove and fear that the same signature could be perceived as harried or unprofessional. Higher-level employees have no such fears. 

Instead, the “Sent from my . . .” signature can signal authority, the same way in which a painstakingly typed email is met with a curt thumbs-up from the CEO. 

In fact, a 2012 paper entitled “Sent From My iPhone: The Medium and Message as Cues of Sender Professionalism in Mobile Telephony” found that those receiving a message containing spelling and grammatical errors were more forgiving of mistakes with a “sent from my” email than those sent from a desktop or laptop. 

Of course, not every task is suited to a small screen. (There’s a time and a place for “laptop purchases,” for example, despite what Gen Z may think.) Sensitive or high-importance tasks probably aren’t worth risking an accidental emoji, or hitting send with a photo of your lunch attached. 

For those surveyed, the convenience of being able to fire off emails on the fly also comes with its own drawbacks: 56% say that work-related notifications have blurred the line between their personal and professional lives.

But in an always-on work culture, as digital devices continue to embed further into our work and personal lives, the “sent from my . . .” isn’t going anywhere soon. 

Sent from my iPhone. 

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