Surfing Web Good For Productivity

Also good? Standing by the water cooler, smoke breaks, chatting up that new intern, starting office hockey pools, extended bathroom breaks...

In news that really, really took a load off of our shoulders, two studies suggest that killing time at work by aimlessly surfing the web is, wait for it, good for productivity. Both of the studies were undertaken by the University of Singapore, and found that browsing the Internet was a better way to refresh oneself than making personal phone calls or answering e-mails. Tests found that subjects who had been surfing for 20 minutes were much more alert, less bored, and more productive when performing simple tasks than those who were allowed to do whatever they wanted during those 20 minutes. The researchers say this could be because when people browse the Internet, they tend to go to their favourite sites, which can refresh them as well as a coffee break or quick cigarette, leading to a suggestion workplaces shouldn't restrict what their employees can access online (except for that whole pornography thing).