We all cyberloaf – and the science says that it

can make us more productive at work. But

when does a useful break become plain old
slacking off?
When Stephanie Andel can feel her eyes glaze over scrolling through
academic papers, institutional emails or student marking, she’ll open a new
tab in her web browser and explore. “I take a few minutes every hour or two
to surf the web, look at news or scan my Facebook feed to catch up with
friends,” Andel, assistant professor of psychology at Indiana University
Purdue University of Indianapolis, admits.

She’s not alone. Research shows that workers drift from their contracted

tasks to personal email, social networks and the far corners of the internet
for anything between a few hours a week to a few hours a day. Six out of 10
people admit they can’t get through the workday without checking their
social media, according to online learning firm Udemy, while two-thirds
of us say Facebook is the biggest time-sink. This phenomenon – known as
cyberloafing – is an issue that costs businesses $85bn a year through lost
time, according to researchers at the University of Nevada.

Cyberloafing is often presented as a negative. “Some of the early research

into it was framing it as procrastination,” explains Dr Fuschia Sirois of the
University of Sheffield’s Department of Psychology. “People were
cyberloafing to escape.” Yet more recent research suggests that a degree of
cyberloafing may be beneficial to employees; that small breaks help them
refocus between tasks and even deal with workplace stress. Briefly
stepping back – also known as “psychological detachment” – helps them
muster energy to continue through the workday.

Yet employers know that distracted workforces mean lost productivity.

Some block access to certain websites and social networks, or
develop strict internet use policies. Others say trusting employees to
decide what’s appropriate is a better way to ensure good job performance.
But is it possible to establish exactly how much time spent surfing online
rejuvenates, without tipping over into slacking off?

How long is too long?

When it comes to cyberloafing – and finding the ‘right’ amount – Jonathan

Wasserstrum, chief executive of New York real estate technology company
Squarefoot, is a realist. He believes employees will slack off at times to
regain focus regardless of workplace policies. “If someone is not being
productive for a minute because they spent all morning in a deep session
working with a few people, they can pretend to have a spreadsheet open, or
they can relax for a couple of minutes,” he says. “The latter is going to be
better for us in the long term.”

One study found that 97% of male participants and 85% of female participants believed
cyberloafing was acceptable in the workplace (Credit: Getty Images)
The key question is when a short break to reset after a tough task turns into
procrastination. “There’s a fine line between cyberloafing to refresh the mind
and when people are doing it as an escape from the task because they find
the task challenging,” says Sirois.

Andel says we don’t yet know where that line is; she’s certainly qualified to
comment, as her own research shows that cyberloafing can keep
employees happier and mitigate against negative effects of workplace
culture.  But she believes it depends on a number of factors, including the
type of organisation, the job and work conditions. Cyberloafing would have
less impact on salaried workers, for example, because they have to complete
their tasks at some point, whereas those paid by the hour would face more
time pressure. “Every minute taken for a cyberloafing break means that they
have less time to actually complete their job tasks,” she says.

Research by Andrew A Bennett, assistant professor in the Department of

Management at Old Dominion University, Virginia, has shown that breaks as
short as a minute can help rejuvenate employees and improve productivity
in the long run. But he says the reason we don’t yet know the optimal length
of a break is because the exact mental processes that make people feel
rejuvenated and ready to tackle the next task are not yet fully understood.
“Our best guess right now is that diverting your attention to something new –
even a new task – can provide some short-term relief if you're feeling tired or
exhausted from what you're working on,” says Bennett.

In a 2019 study, he and his colleagues tested the impact of different

lengths of break – one, five and nine minutes – and various activities on
reported fatigue, vigour and attention. One group watched funny videos,
another watched mindfulness meditation videos and the third group took
the Stroop colour and word test (where the word “green” is displayed in
red text, for instance).

‘If you go past the point where you set

a limit on your break time, it becomes
just procrastination.’ – Dr Fuschia
Sirois
While some of the different breaks helped people feel more energised and
attentive, they didn’t get back to pre-break levels in either – which is why
Bennett is wary of saying any break length is “optimal”. However, Bennett
did discover that the longer the break when watching funny videos, the more
enjoyment people felt, and the less fatigued they were. Watching both
mindfulness and funny videos helped improve psychological detachment –
the key thing people want from a break – the longer they spent away from
work. Yet there were caveats: those who watched funny videos for one, five
or nine minutes returned to work with less attention than their baseline
throughout the day – and only those who watched five minutes of funny
videos felt more vigour when they resumed work.

Sirois, the procrastination researcher, says that extending a break to

recalibrate needs to be done with care. “You’ve always got to be
reasonable,” she says. “A 15-minute break because your brain is turning into
mush is fine. But if you… find yourself saying you just need another few
minutes, it’s bad. If you go past the point where you set a limit on your break
time, it becomes just procrastination.”

Vivien Lim, professor at the Department of Management and Organisation at

the National University of Singapore and an expert on cyberloafing, points
out that the length of an appropriate break depends on the person.
“Employees are not machines, and cannot work for prolonged periods of
time during the workday,” she says. “I don’t have empirical evidence on how
much cyberloafing is good.  From experience though, I would say that about
15 to 20 minutes should suffice, but it would vary among individuals.
Anything beyond 30 minutes though may prolong the detachment from work
and makes the transition back to job-related tasks difficult.”
Timing is also a factor. “If stressed employees can sprinkle microbreaks
throughout their day, alongside traditional longer breaks, such as lunch
breaks, which we know are also important for well-being, I would postulate
that they will be less exhausted by the end of the workday,” says Andel.

Should you set limits?

Employees are clearly on board when it comes to cyberloafing; one

study found that 97% of male participants and 85% of female participants
believed it was acceptable in the workplace.

“I’ve found those small breaks break up the day and provide me with some
energy that I can then use to work harder and longer over the workday,”
says Andel.

Briefly stepping away from tasks is known as “psychological detachment”, and research
suggests it can help restore workers’ energy throughout the day (Credit: Getty Images)
Sirois says such breaks can help workers return to a task with a new
perspective. “They come back with fresh ideas and are better able to tackle
the task – especially if it’s one that involves a bit of problem-solving or
creative thinking,” she says.

At SquareFoot, employees don’t face any restrictions on their internet use.

“We’re all about setting goals and holding people accountable. As long as
people are doing that, we’re pretty flexible about how they do it,” says
Wasserstrum.
One survey shows that restricting access to social media in the workplace
can cut the proportion of employees who spend more than four hours a week
cyberloafing by half. Some companies are draconian in banning all non-work
internet use, while others restrict certain sites. Yet cyberloafing has been
linked to higher levels of employee job satisfaction – which also
positively impacts productivity.

Tackling root causes

Where does that leave employers? Sirois believes that one of the main
reasons people cyberloaf in the first place is linked to unhappiness. That’s
supported by research from the Wisconsin School of Business, which
shows people are more likely to engage in cyberloafing if they feel their
workplace doesn’t treat them fairly.

Andel’s research also found that cyberloafing can be a release from stress or
bullying. When she studied employees’ reasons for cyberloafing, she found
that three-quarters of those who felt mistreated at work said they
cyberloafed, compared to 61% of those who said they didn’t experience
mistreatment. “Instead of dealing with cyberloafing, employers should also
deal with the problems that are leading to it in the first place,” she says.
“You don’t want to just address the symptoms; you want to address the root
issue.”

Ensuring you have a fair workplace is the goal of any business – but in the
debate over acceptable levels of cyberloafing, it’s even more important. Too
strict, and employees may take their unhappiness out by heading to
Facebook anyway. Too lenient, and some may not be able to resist dawdling.
And until academia decides, individual employers will have to decide what
the “right” amount of cyberloafing is for them.