【英语生活】上网闲逛有助提高工作效率

Don't feel guilty about browsing the Internet at work─turns out it may actually improve your performance.

According to a new study, Web browsing can actually refresh tired workers and enhance their productivity, compared to other activities such as making personal calls, texts or emails, let alone working straight through with no rest at all.

The study, 'Impact of Cyberloafing on Psychological Engagement,' by Don J.Q. Chen and Vivien K.G Lim of the National University of Singapore, was presented last week in San Antonio, Texas, at the annual meeting of the Academy of Management, an association of management scholars.

The researchers conducted two studies. In the first, they assigned 96 undergraduate management students into one of three groups─a control group, a 'rest-break' group and a Web-surfing group. All subjects spent 20 minutes highlighting as many letter e's as they could find in a sample text. For the next 10 minutes, the control group was assigned another simple task; members of the rest-break group could do whatever they pleased, except surf the Internet; and the third group could browse the Web. Afterward, all of the subjects spent another 10 minutes highlighting more letters.

The researchers found that the Web-surfers were significantly more productive and effective at the tasks than those in the other two groups and reported lower levels of mental exhaustion, boredom and higher levels of engagement.

'Browsing the Internet serves an important restorative function,' the authors said. Personal emailing, by contrast, was particularly distracting for workers. The second study, which surveyed 191 adults, found similar results.

Why is Web-surfing more restorative than, say, responding to a friend's email? When browsing the Internet, people 'usually choose to visit only the sites that they like─it's like going for a coffee or snack break. Breaks of such nature are pleasurable, rejuvenating the Web surfer,' wrote Dr. Lim, in an email. By contrast, workers can't control the kinds of email they receive, and reading and replying to each message is 'cognitively more demanding, relative to Web surfing, as you need to pay attention to what is said on the email,' she added.

Because Web-surfing can aid productivity, the researchers caution employers against over-restricting workers' Web access. They recommend that managers allow time for limited personal Web browsing 'since it has a salubrious impact on employees' productivity,' while limiting access to personal emails.

别再为上班时间上网闲逛羞愧啦──有研究称这样会提高工作效率呢。

根据一项新研究，上网闲逛真的可以让困乏的员工精神振奋、工作效率提高，而且比起其他诸如打私人电话、发短信和邮件效果都好，比起一直埋头苦干更是好多了。

这项研究名为“工作时间上网闲逛的心理影响”（Impact of Cyberloafing on Psychological Engagement），研究人员是新加坡国立大学（National University of Singapore）的唐·陈(Don J.Q. Chen)和薇薇安·林（Vivien K.G Lim）。该报告近期在美国德克萨斯州圣安东尼奥（San Antonio）举行的管理学学会（Academy of Management）年会上被宣读，该学会是一个由管理学学者组成的社团。

研究人员做了两项调研。在第一项调研中，他们将96名管理学本科生分成三组──一个参照组，一个“休息”组和一个上网闲逛组。所有人都被要求在20分钟内在一篇范文里划出尽可能多的字母“e”。接下来10分钟里，参照组被安排去做另一项简单的任务；休息组除了上网闲逛想做什么都可以；第三组的人则上网闲逛。接下来，所有参与者再花10分钟找出更多的字母“e”。

研究人员发现，在最后10分钟内，上网闲逛组比起另外两组工作效率更高，而且出现精神疲倦和厌烦情绪的比例更小，参与的热情也更高。

报告中称，“上网闲逛对于恢复活力起到了重要的作用。”比起来，发私人邮件则尤其容易让员工分心。第二项调研有191名成人参与，结果与第一项调研类似。

为什么上网闲逛能比回封朋友的邮件更能让人恢复活力呢？林博士在一封邮件中写道，上网闲逛的时候，人们“通常会选择去看自己喜欢的网站──就像去喝杯咖啡或是吃点零食一样。这样的休息让人身心愉快，活力得以恢复。”她补充说，然而，员工并不能控制自己会收到什么样的邮件，读邮件和回邮件“比起上网闲逛要求你付出更多的精力，因为你得留意邮件里写了什么。”

由于上网闲逛能提高工作效率，因此两位研究者建议雇主不要对下属的上网活动要求太过苛刻。他们建议允许员工有节制地上网看看自己喜欢的东西，“因为这样对员工的工作效率会产生积极的作用，”不过对员工处理私人邮件则要加以限制。