Last night, I had dinner with Mary (visiting from D.C… she wrote the article I mentioned a couple of weeks ago), Loren and his girlfriend, Kelly.
We had a discussion about how much time we have on our hands (or lack of), as well as how our attention spans have been affected by technology. We agreed that with ‘net access in the workplace, we find ourselves surfing the web, firing up AIM, or sending personal e-mails more often that we normally would. It was also agreed upon that our attention spans are a whole lot shorter when we are working, with the urge to check e-mail or check someone’s blog coming to us every 15 minutes, or even less.
I realize that this is a sticky issue in most workplaces, with a lot of supervisors cracking down on personal internet use in the office. Some may argue that surfing the web during work hours is a nice break from the humdrum of the normal work day, and in turn, can make them more productive. Some people are able to use their willpower, and don’t surf the web unless it is their coffee break time or lunchtime. Some people flat out abuse their employer’s bandwidth.
How does your workplace handle this? Are they strict or relaxed about your use of internet access in the office? Are there screening procedures in use?
I know, personally, that it is becoming increasingly hard for me to do much work with high-speed access everywhere. I also recognize the fact that when I had a full time office job, I was surfing the ‘net more (and blogging on a more regular basis) than I did on days that I was at home… I guess that it helped that I had a fairly relaxed and liberal workplace at that time.
When (and if) I secure another full time job, I hope that I am kept busy enough that I am not tempted to waste time away surfing and messaging. Besides, I prefer to be busy.
Idle hands are the devil’s playground… or something.
My boss wouldn’t be overjoyed at my extra-cuuricular surfing. But since we’ve been getting excellent press coverage I don’t think she worries about it all that much.
If we weren’t getting any press and we weren’t making any sales then I would imagine that things would be very, very different.
But yeah, I’ve got like a ten minute window of work before I must check auctions, blogs, news or something else. I’ve been thinking about going to a doctor to get checked for ADD.