Motion: Social media addiction is a productivity killer
by Marco Tapia
May 18, 2015
A – For the motion
John Boitnott (inc.com) goes to say: “Social media updates are similar to eating French fries. If you’re like most people, you can’t have just one.” Furthermore he says: “social media addiction is a productivity Killer”.
An extract of his full article follows (Full article here: http://www.inc.com/john-boitnott/social-media-addiction-the-productivity-killer.html)
“Social media can be truly addicting, which makes it tough for entrepreneurs who want to curb its use because it can be so time consuming. Going cold turkey may not be an option.
Unlike other potentially addictive items such as nicotine or alcohol, social media is an integral part of many peoples’ actual work goals and can’t be ignored. You might be charged with updating the business’ digital photo albums, managing comment threads or some other business directive. Short of refusing to do your duties, social media addicts have to learn to deal with their disease.”
A study (study referred in the full article) revealed that 18 percent of users can’t go beyond “a few hours” without checking Facebook and 61 percent of users check their newsfeed “at least once a day.”
“Of iPhone users, 28 percent check their Twitter feed before getting up in the morning. It’s estimated that the average American spends nearly one quarter of their work day browsing social media for non-work related activities.
In fact, somewhere between 60 and 80 percent of Americans admit they don’t go online for anything necessary, but rather to kill time or be entertained. For bigger businesses, this means if one thousand of your employees spend just one hour per day “cyberloafing,” it could cost you $35 million each year. “
B – A solution?
Is this spying or managing productivity? You be the judge
On a recent announcement, NesterSoft Inc released WorkTime – An Employee Monitoring Software
WOODBRIDGE, Ontario, May 14, 2015 — WorkTime (www.worktime.com), an employee monitoring software by NesterSoft, introduces new advanced Social Activity Reports for the managers to monitor Social Networks usage by the employees. New reports effectively provide information about Facebook, Twitter and other Social Networks usage to help manager with estimating productivity level.
According to recent 2015 surveys (salary.com) and based on feedbacks from NesterSoft customers, Social Network usage is number one among all the Internet activities. Seeing all these trends and in respond to the marked demands, there is a number of options added into WorkTime reports to immediately and promptly show the current social network usage situation.
This WorkTime release includes such reports as Social Networks Usage Time, Top Social Network Employees, as well as Top Facebook, Top Twitter Employees, and other reports to answer how much time is being wasted on the Internet social networks y the employees.
About WorkTime
WorkTime is employee, computer and Internet usage monitoring software intended for productivity monitoring. WorkTime offers respectful monitoring without infringing on employees privacy.
C- Against the motion
An extract of Ilya Pozin’s article in forbes.com says: Social Media Actually Increases Productivity
We all know social media is a horrible drain on workplace productivity…right? After all, if you’re on Facebook and Twitter, you’re probably not getting your work accomplished. But a few surveys tell a different story.
According to a recent survey by Microsoft, 46 percent of workers say their productivity has improved thanks to social media and social media tools. A further 37 percent wish their organization’s management would embrace social media tools in the workplace in order to increase productivity. Of course, this is discussing the wide scope of social tools in the office, many focused specifically on productivity, instead of the big social networks we all know and love to waste time surfing.
However, even social media with no ties to your workplace can make you more productive on the job. Research by the University of California, Irvine team found occasionally “grazing” social media sites like Facebook can work as a mood booster. These social media breaks can act as a mental palate cleanser, helping workers with a quick mood enhancer, allowing you to return back to the task at hand refreshed.
For advice on how your company’s productivity can be improved please contact me.
Marco Tapia
PicNet Pty Ltd