Is Facebook Making Us Bad at Our Jobs?

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Some weeks ago we posted a piece about whether or not Facebook is making us stupid. To bring you up to speed: Of course it is. Now we’ve come across this bit of news from Australia: Twittering and watching YouTube videos makes workers more productive. Unless they’re reporters at the New York Times and crashing computers.

A University of Melbourne study suggests that playing on the Internet for fun during work hours boosts worker productivity by nine percent. Those who behave with “Internet addiction tendencies” are less productive than those who engage in WILB (“workplace Internet leisure browsing”). What is considered moderation? Less than 20 percent of your total time in the office. So, you’re an addict. Congrats.

To summarize: If you are “addicted” to social networking, you are more likely to suffer from social anxiety, depression, etc. And you’re probably less productive at your job. This probably gets you in trouble with your boss, which makes you feel even sadder. This makes you want to drown your sorrows in photos of people you haven’t talked to since high school even more. And thus the vicious cycle continues…