Web use at work can be constructive, study says

Green Lantern · #1 06-19-2008, 09:28 AM

NEW YORK (AP) -- It's no secret that people sneak in some personal e-mail and Web surfing when they're supposed to be working.

A new study attempts to shatter perceptions that these Web surfers are just slackers trying to avoid work.
In fact, it turns out everyone does it, from senior managers to entry-level employees -- and researchers figure that means management attempts to clamp down on Internet use may be missing the mark.
Many legitimate reasons may be at play, speculates R. Kelly Garrett, one of the study's authors and a communications professor at Ohio State University.
For instance, people may use the Web at work to help balance job and life responsibilities; with the personal matters taken care of from work, they can focus on the task at hand.
"It's appropriate to just avoid the knee-jerk response that all personal Internet use is detrimental," Garrett said.
Installing filters to block access to Web sites and e-mail services could backfire by reducing job satisfaction and thus productivity, researchers wrote.

The study on "cyberslacking," based on statistical analyses of responses in a phone survey of 1,024 people during the summer of 2006, was published in the June issue of the CyberPsychology and Behavior journal.
James N. Danziger, a professor at the Center for Research on Information Technology and Organizations at the University of California, Irvine, was Garrett's co-author.
The study didn't attempt to go much beyond trying to gauge the types of employees who use the Internet for personal reasons.
Garrett said more research is needed to determine motives and measure effects on productivity. Those studies, researchers say, would then help companies figure out how best to control and accommodate personal use.

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How much do you "cyberslack" at work?

Chase · #2 06-19-2008, 12:31 PM

I never use the internet at work for personal use..

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Pythoness · #3 06-19-2008, 12:37 PM

Of course it can be constructive.

I mean, check it: If people at work weren't on TD, they wouldn't know not to log in to their myspace accounts today, and then their work computers would be all junked up.

Chase · #4 06-19-2008, 12:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pythoness

Of course it can be constructive.

I mean, check it: If people at work weren't on TD, they wouldn't know not to log in to their myspace accounts today, and then their work computers would be all junked up.

damn she's good

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Bada Bing · #5 06-20-2008, 10:21 AM

This is like the argument that says if there were no guns in the world, then murders wouldn't occur.

Once a slacker, always a slacker. With no internet, trust me, slackers will FIND a way to slack. It's what they do, it's in the very strands of their DNA. They know no other way. Just because the internet is there, it doesn't cause people to become slackers. Just like the fact that guns exist doesn't turn everyone into murderers.

And I agree, if they take away the internet(s), productivity in general will go way down... you'll have a lot of pissed off people. But slackers will just use the phone more, or pick their ass, or take more coffee breaks. Actual workers will work more I presume.

Web use at work can be constructive, study says

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