Random Thread - Anything Goes
-
When I was a kid, keeping in contact with my dad meant calling him in the office and interrupting whatever he was working on, and possibly other people with whom he was working. Little things, like arranging dinner were a bit deal. And instead of working till the last minute he would leave work at a set time so that things were predictable so that we could make plans around food, events, school, etc. Now with social media, we don't need to cripple work and stop in the middle of things because it is so easy to keep everyone in the loop. Work is much more integrated into our lives and it is so much easier to be productive. Sure, it is also easier to be unproductive. But people who didn't want to work never were going to work. People who want to work will use the available tools to do so better.
-
No one needs a tool to avoid work. You just..... don't work.
-
@coliver said:
From the research I have seen (and there isn't a lot since it is a relatively new ) social media doesn't have a great impact on productivity. To the point where it actually helps productivity in certain areas.
Is it because employees have always been, to use Scott's word, lazy? or the expected output was so low that adding social media time was simply replaced water cooler talk? or because companies are blocking social media sites.
-
@Dashrender said:
Is it because employees have always been, to use Scott's word, lazy? or the expected output was so low that adding social media time was simply replaced water cooler talk? or because companies are blocking social media sites.
Or because people still get work done. You are basing your questions on an assumption that I don't believe is true or based on anything. Why do you feel that any of those things are necessary? Why can't Facebook simply be a potentially good thing?
-
I think that you feel humans are machines and the goal is maximum factory output. Unless you are literally running a factory, making people work without breaks or distraction makes them less productive. There is a reason that many countries outproduce the US while working fewer hours. Is this because Americans are lazy or incompetent? Or maybe it is because hours don't equal output?
-
@scottalanmiller said:
No one needs a tool to avoid work. You just..... don't work.
Sadly, around here, we've had a problem of hiring these people I guess.. because the use of FB and other social media sites has definitely effected mostly our newer, younger highers and they're productivity is noticeably less than our senior and old staff who aren't so engaged by social media.
-
@Dashrender said:
@scottalanmiller said:
No one needs a tool to avoid work. You just..... don't work.
Sadly, around here, we've had a problem of hiring these people I guess.. because the use of FB and other social media sites has definitely effected mostly our newer, younger highers and they're productivity is noticeably less than our senior and old staff who aren't so engaged by social media.
Younger people are always less productive than seniors people (as large groups) for many reasons. This has always been the case. I think a dislike of social media is causing you or someone to apply unrelated behaviour together that has no association.
Take away Facebook and does the younger group suddenly become productive? I doubt it. You need to have large control groups to determine this kind of stuff.
-
What you are seeing is why senior people do the training and get paid more money. If humans became more useless over the course of their careers we would pay more to new hires and less to experienced people. But, again, outside of mind-numbing manufacturing this does not happen.
-
I can do the work of several newbie IT pros. I have a broader range of experience, more clout, experience, have seen more issues and know how to make things get done faster. I've learned how I work best and can adapt workflows. I have the ability to pressure companies to let me work effectively instead of them telling me how they think I will work best. I have incentive to do so because I am invested in the companies where I work. I know how to troubleshoot more effectively, how to speed up processes and how to run things in parallel where someone young might be scared to do so or not realize that they can.
Seniority and experience alone help to make me more productive than some twenty year old would be even though, in theory, a twenty year old could do anything that I do.
-
Potatoes!
-
There is also a general consensus that twenty year olds are just lazier than forty year olds. I don't know if this is true, nowadays it has become common for the younger generations to be shocked by how unproductive the older generations are. We are going through one of the first times in history when there wasn't a consistent "older is better" thing. Lots of companies are talking about how they are seeing much higher productivity from younger workers in many cases.
But as a general, historic rule, getting "kids" to work is a challenge. Partially because they have less to worry about - no mortgage, no kids, no spouse, etc. They just do it for the beer money. As you get older you tend to care more.
I don't think that that is tied to anything. It wasn't the introduction of newspapers or telephones in the past that made that happen and not social media making it happen today.
-
Does this seem familiar @Joyfano ?
-
@nadnerB Bowling Shoes!
-
@dafyre Elephant farts!
-
This is SO me!!
-
-
@bsouder will appreciate this.
-
-
Testing new images....
-
Yup, that works.
