Browsing the web for fun during office hours can increase productivity, according to a new study from Australia.
The findings from the study, conducted by the University of Melbourne, indicates that people who use the Internet for personal reasons at work are about 9% more productive that those who do not.
The study looked at people who browsed in moderation, or were on the Internet for less than 20% of their total time in the office.
Study author Brent Coker, from the department of management and marketing, said: "Workplace Internet leisure browsing (WILB), helped to sharpened workers' concentration. People need to zone out for a bit to get back their concentration.”
"Short and unobtrusive breaks, such as a quick surf of the Internet, enables the mind to rest itself, leading to a higher total net concentration for a days' work, and as a result, increased productivity," he added.
According to the study of 300 workers, 70 percent of people who use the Internet at work engage in WILB.
Among the most popular WILB activities are searching for information about products, reading online news sites, playing online games and watching videos on YouTube.
"Firms spend millions on software to block their employees from watching videos, using social networking sites or shopping online under the pretence that it costs millions in lost productivity," said Coker. "That's not always the case. Those who behave with Internet addiction tendencies will have a lower productivity than those without".
However, Coker warned that excessive time spent surfing the internet could have the reverse effect.
"Approximately 14 per cent of internet users in Australia show signs of internet addiction - they don't take breaks at appropriate times, they spend more than a `normal' amount of time online, and can get irritable if they are interrupted while surfing.
"WILB is not as helpful for this group of people - those who behave with internet addiction tendencies will have a lower productivity than those without," Coker concluded.