The Internet, for all its wonders — including my current job — is probably the biggest Pandora's box for office productivity that the world has ever known. The study found that not even setting down rules regarding Internet use is enough to curb the employee urge to browse or, as The Sideshow put it, cyberloaf. Instead, researchers found that young people couldn't even understand that social networking while at work was unacceptable behavior. They knew they were being monitored but it didn't matter.
However, a 2011 study found that Internet time spent by people in certain fields actually made them more productive and more creative. I think if you remove Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest from the equation — along with shopping sites and, of course, porn — that might be true. But only in certain fields. As a writer, does my time on the Internet result in more productivity and more creativity? Yes, but only if I avoid shopping and social media. And game sites. And medical sites. And community forums. With the addition of those items or more accurately the lack of self discipline to avoid them, however, it's a shaky proposition at best and an afternoon of no pay at worst.
According to the study, though young people often don't see the problem with cyberloafing, the practice was happening in equal measure across all age groups, though perhaps through different sites. Older people are apparently managing their finances, while younger people hit up the social media. Not mentioning any names, I will say I know a lot of older people who are on Facebook in the middle of the day, though, so I question this finding. But on the whole, I think the study is right on.
