How to get caught in the sticky web of online distractions…
1 Wikipedia
In spite of its potential for inaccuracy, Wikipedia is generally a pretty good source of information. So how can it be a waste of time if you’re learning something? Well, the problem is even if you visit the site to look up something relevant to your current work, it’s almost impossible not to end up following link after link after link – until eventually, you’ve strayed a proverbial mile from where you started. Then you look at the clock and realise you’ve lost over an hour, and you’ve no work at all.
2 IMDb
As with Wikipedia, IMDb draws you in and then steals your time with all its tempting links. The main difference is what brings you there in the first place. Most of the time, you end up on the site after watching a TV show or movie and seeing a familiar actor who you can’t quite place. And after finding out that yes, that actor was in Neighbours, you might as well look up the guy who played Harold Bishop, and then why not see what else he’s done… Will any of this information be useful to you later (except maybe in a pub quiz)? Of course not.
3 Facebook
So, you’ve just found out that Ian Smith, the chap who played Harold Bishop, was also in Prisoner: Cell Block H. That’s the kind of factoid you can’t simply keep to yourself. And if there’s no one else in the immediate vicinity, then Facebook gives you a quick and easy way to pass on what you’ve just learned. If only there weren’t so many other distractions there, like pictures of your friends and family, and the weird and funny things they’ve posted on their Facebook timelines. Plus there’s always the chance someone posts something that you feel strongly about, in which case, you’re likely to end up wasting hours in a Facebook ‘discussion’ that ultimately goes nowhere.
4 Gaming
Even if you’re not a gamer, there’s still a chance you can get hooked into an online game. But rather than playing the latest Call of Duty or World of Warcraft expansion, it’s the silly little browser games that are the problem. Why it’s so important that you fling a cartoon penguin further than some random people on the internet, we’re not sure, but it just is. And once you’ve broken the current record, you can always go on to Facebook to tell all your friends about it.
5 Window Shopping
You might be completely broke, but there’s still something oddly therapeutic about filling a virtual shopping basket with things you can’t afford. The idea of window shopping isn’t something new, of course, since people used to do it with actual shop windows, peering through the glass at the fancy things inside. But these days, it’s so much easier. And if you’re not careful, in the spur of the moment, you could end up buying that hugely expensive gaming laptop or whatever, which is fine until you realise it means not eating for a few months.