Have you ever wondered about the amount of time we spend online (while we could be doing something much better)? In 2017, the average user spent 5.9 hours per day on digital media. The average mobile phone use was 3.3 hours per day – an increase from just 0.3 hours per day back in 2008.
The average American spends approximately 24 hours per week online. This is a massive increase from just 9.4 hours per week in 2009.
While internet helps us do our jobs and acquire knowledge, there are dozens of websites that qualify as massive productivity killers. These could be fun to explore in your spare time but they’re certainly not the best choice while working or attempting to complete a project on time.
If you want to boost your productivity and make the most of your day, you should restrict the use of certain websites and block others altogether. Here are the top time wasters you need to deal with today.
Did you have any doubts about the inclusion of Facebook in the list? As far as time wasting goes, the social network is a superstar.
Facebook is now planning to start showing you just how much you spend checking your newsfeed and observing the photos of people you haven’t seen in ages (or never!). Even if the tool doesn’t get implemented, it’s no secret that Facebook is a massive productivity killer that you shouldn’t succumb to at your workplace.
As per 2017 data, the average daily time people spend on Facebook is 36 minutes. As far as productivity goes, there’s only one social media that surpasses Facebook and it’s our next entry.
YouTube
People spend 40 minutes per day watching YouTube videos.
That’s a lot of time you could be dedicating to much more productive activities. YouTube videos are everywhere – they’ll be shared on your Facebook newsfeed, they’ll turn up in the results of your Google search and even in your email inbox.
The problem with YouTube stems from the recommendations and the additional suggestions you get. Even if you watch one video for a specific purpose, you’ll eventually end up exploring a lot more content than you originally anticipated to. Once you get started, it will be almost impossible to stop. Thus, the best strategy is to refrain from starting altogether.
Amazon
Spending time on Amazon isn’t just bad for productivity, it will end up costing you a lot of money. The massive shopping portal features dozens of temptations (and those sneaky product suggestions). You’ll eventually get lost in the maze and you’ll have no idea how the hours flew by.
People today are spending more time exploring Amazon products than visiting its top 10 competitors combined! In December 2017 alone, Americans spent 22.6 billion minutes going through Amazon pages. In comparison, the second biggest retailer eBay has seen solely 6.2 billion combined visitor minutes over the same amount of time.
Amazon is sneaky due to the fact that it can offer personalized recommendations. Once you start buying, your product feed will be influenced by the choices you made in the past. Thus, you’ll see more products that you’re likely to be interested in.
Visual social media like Instagram are becoming more and more prominent. If you have an urgent task to complete, it’s best to keep the Instagram app blocked throughout the day.
The same curiosity that drives the usage of other social media is fueling the Instagram craze. The content is entirely visual, which makes it much easier to browse through. Once you’re done with the newest pictures shared by people you follow, it’s easy to move on to the Instagram suggestions. Once you get there, you can spend hours exploring photos of strangers without even noticing the passage of time.
While Instagram can be highly entertaining when the workday is over, you should definitely get in the habit of blocking the social network while you’re in the office.
BoredPanda
The art, design and photography community is yet another massive time waster due to the beautiful, funny and entertaining image galleries it makes readily available.
BoredPanda gets 22.23 million monthly visits and it has persevered regardless of several detrimental changes. It managed to survive the Facebook purge aimed at removing irrelevant content from one’s newsfeed. The goal has been accomplished via the publication of high quality, relevant and engaging content.
Don’t get started with BoredPanda at the office because you’ll find yourself incapable of stopping. Save it for your morning coffee or even better – save it for your after-work hours.
BuzzFeed
As controversial as it may be, BuzzFeed is here to stay and it definitely ranks as a massive time wasting website. The same applies to the BuzzFeed YouTube channel (especially if you get into the comment section of each video).
Known for its liberal and feminist publications, BuzzFeed inspires some and leads to ridicule from others. Regardless of the reason why you’re visiting this website, however, you can spend way too much time on it.
Today, BuzzFeed has an audience of over 650 million people and its content generates more than nine billion views per month. You should definitely limit or block this website because the publications are likely to provoke an emotional response, getting you to engage in a comment battle with others. Putting an end to it is almost impossible. What you could do though is to put it on your FocusMe blacklist.
Now, get back to work!
Very often, the temptation to visit your favorite websites is going to be strong, even if you know that you have a pressing deadline. In such instances, you should look for solutions that will help you maintain your resolve.
Relying on productivity tools like FocusMe is a great choice for handling distractions, especially the digital ones. This app acts as a website and app blocker but it can help you accomplish a whole lot more when it comes to getting organised and spending your time on productive activities. If you want to know more about limiting or blocking websites and apps check out our handy How-to-Guides.
To change your routine, start by identifying the most detrimental websites as far as productivity goes. Your personal time wasters may differ from those in the list, which is why you need a bit of self-reflection. Once you have a better idea about what’s standing in your way, it will be much easier to tackle these websites in one way or another.
