A veritable maze of online distractions stands between you and deadline day.
It’s hard to work diligently in the technological age that we live in. The Internet has revolutionised the way we share information and every day it continues to shape the way we work with its infinitely varied uses. Some are weird, some wonderful, but all can be thoroughly distracting when we’re trying to get some work done.
Those of us who work project manager jobs and can get through the day without a crucial member of staff falling prey to one of these distractions are made of sterner stuff than most.
YouTube
With practically every music video, movie trailer and innumerable shots of people falling over in hilarious ways, how can the lure of YouTube be ignored? What’s worse is that most clips are short, so you promise yourself “just one more quick video” and then it’s got you. Why not drag you workmates down into your distraction hell by rickrolling them? It’s still cool I assure you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0
Social Media
The meteoric rise of Facebook might have killed off many other social media sites but it has made keeping up connections ridiculously easy. Therein lays the problem though. It’s too easy to stay in touch with your friends: old friends, new friends, school friends, fake friends, work friends, and those ex-friends who just don’t have the decency to fade into the background. Now the issue is not the inability to stay in touch, but the inability to stop. A quick status update or a flick through a friend’s tagged photo album, these are but a few weapons of mass distraction that Facebook uses.
Online Games
Managers have wailed and gnashed their teeth over how many hours their office workers have wasted playing solitaire, but that is nothing compared to today’s diverse online games that assault workers’ concentration left right and centre. The likes of FarmVille and Mafia Wars, creations of Zynga, have created simple yet massively addictive games linked to Facebook that rewards the user who checks up on their progress regularly with faster progress. A dish of distraction poison if ever there was one!
Online Banking
Instant access banking has taken away the need to ever face your bank manager, cap in hand, and feel guilty about your balance sheet. It has also provided another great way to avoid work as you can check your financial health and take care of transactions without leaving your seat or dealing with an unhelpful call centre.
Cartoonise Yourself
These things are all over the web right now. If you’ve ever had even the most passing curiosity as to what you might look like if you were transported to a cartoon dimension, then wonder no more. Variations include how you would look if you were in South Park, The Simpsons or James Cameron’s Avatar. That report can wait a little while longer, your cartoon alter-ego cannot!
References: www.flickr.com
http://www.helium.com/items/1692235-top-online-distractions-at-work?page=2
