As web workers, most of us are steeped in Web 2.0 throughout our working day (never mind that we can’t agree on what “Web 2.0″ means). Many of us have embraced online applications from Google, Yahoo, and elsewhere to do the bulk of our work, and we rely on a mishmash of social media sites to stay in touch with our peers and build our extended networks. But this connectivity comes at a cost: the internet is filled with bright, shiny distractions. Though we think of the web as a massive productivity enhancer, for some people it’s also a great time sink. Continue Reading
9 comments so far
3:53 PM PT
Hey Om, the link to Web Worker Daily is not correct. one to many http in there.
Cheers
3:56 PM PT
i know, sorry. multitasking. which proves the point of the article. bah!
5:08 PM PT
The internet has always been a sink - email, web surfing, groups, IM, chatgroups, social media sites, now Twitter - thats 10 years of timesinking - but what is constant is that its all about contact with other people.
What would be interesting is to see where the time is coming from - as well as less time spent in f2f, I suspect there have been savings in time spent doing inefficient things like shopping, banking, commuting, faxing etc
5:32 PM PT
Yep, it is the modern day soap opera. Wasting time just like the blue hairs did with general hospital and all my children…our soap opera is modern life and all the reality (and fantasy) we can consume… No different that generations past, excluding the simple fact that at 3:00 pm, the soaps were over and it was time to prepare for dinner ect…; where as we are left thirsty , even unquenchably thirsty, for more and more of the reality-fantasy that we call our online life. We can’t consume enough of our own personal elixir…ouch! And the most difficult part is quantifying how much time we actually waste chewing up bandwith to feed the doapamine driven desires of our brains. Very sorry, just very sorry…
6:09 PM PT
The Web has replaced the Water cooler, reading the Newspaper in the restroom and Personal telephone calls as the choice for taking a break.
People need a break from stress and the 9-5 business formality.
These diversion are probably overall relaxing, and stress relievers
8:13 PM PT
There’s no doubt it’s a massive black hole of distraction. We should take China’s approach and start opening up internet addiction rehab centers (shock therapy optional, of course)
12:28 AM PT
Om,
In the beginning before web 1.0, there was Usenet.
Now THAT was the biggest time waster - and there was no rich media either just plain text often on a vt100.
If we want to waste time we don’t need no steenkin’ AJAX.
12:13 PM PT
Here is a refreshing switch, a Web 2.0 Tool that actually will increase productivity! For all you business travelers out there, I encourage you to test drive http://www.tripsync.com. Its a fee Web 2.0 Travel booking tool that allows you to book, manage and change your travel plans right through Outlook. There is a great demo ont he site and you can book and hold your reservation without paying for it for up to 24 hours.
11:15 PM PT
Chris - next time when you try to blatantly advertise your site on GigaOm or any other respectable blog, at least avoid typos.
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