Normally corporate America shies away from any kind of negatively imbued verbiage, preferring instead to use a corporate speak  that is equivalent to  a verbal

That's why all this talk about Time Wasters has me absolutely baffled. It's so un-positive.

Usually I love negative words as much as the next person, but in this case I resent and find it very unproductive to label creative free form thinking as time wasting.

I believe taking virtual breaks on eBay, Jossip, and loopty loop are necessary daily injections required to keep the mind refreshed.

Why hasn't someone done a the study that demonstrates taking small breaks throughout the day actually promotes productivity?

Before people get their undies in a bundle about corporate time wasting they really need to consider that a Internet surfing employee is a happy employee and a happy employee is a more productive employee.

Needless to say I hold a minority position on this issue. According to a survey released sometime( they didn't date the release) AOL and salary.com found that on average- Americans "Time Waste" 2.09 hours a day--not including lunch and breaks. That was about twice as much as HR departments had guesstimated.

Natch, the Internet is being blamed for much of this Corporate Time Wasting. And, we knew that it was just a matter of time before someone would come up with a way to end all the fun.

Earlier this week it was announced that a eTelemetry, a company in the "business intelligence" sector, now has a product that can pinpoint an individuals bandwith usage. As Peejz wrote in a post on the Right Voices,

The Days Of Blogging At Work May Soon Be Over!

Used Wigs  quality workday distractions. Links to other great sites like the Chinese Propaganda site.

Chinese Propaganda Posters
In August, Time Magazine ran an article on listing the 50 coolest web sites in an article called  Time Wasters

Also Check out Milk and Cookies and The Official Time Wasters Guide v 3.0

Check them out, because to paraphase the lyrics to the Days of Wine and Roses,

the days of time wasting laugh and run away like a child at play
Through a meadow land toward a closing door
A door marked "nevermore" that wasn't there before

This  is cross-posted at FunnyBusiness,Elana's blog on business culture.

Image Credit: Flickr member magicalxpixie