So I was hanging out on Cyber-Loafing Monday, you know, just loafing. In cyberspace. It’s not like the old days when we loafed on weekends in the back yard, in our swimsuits with the sprinklers on.
Now, we do our idling of time surreptitiously, under the cloak of a business suit and a laptop, in the cloud. If you have your computer facing the right direction, you can fool a lot of people into believing you’re working on what - the “Jones report”? Right. But not to worry. They’re probably loafing too.
Evidently enough folks arrived at work last Monday, got their coffee, logged on, and went directly to wasting time, that researchers detected a surge in web surfing, a disturbance in the force, as it were. (I wonder if they said, “Surf’s up!”)
This weakness in our work ethic is attributed to sleep deprivation brought on by the spring-ahead impact of Daylight Savings Time. But before we get too down on ourselves, let’s think about this. First of all, who are these “researchers”? Who documents all those clicks of mice? Mark Zuckerberg? I wouldn’t put it past him. And let me just say, that those who are doing this kind of tracking of slackers are no better than those whom they impugn! Me hopes I doth not protest too much.
Honestly, which spy nerds in what dark room are charged with noting that each year, the Monday after implementation of Daylight Savings Time, we exert more effort surfing the web than engaging in the work we’re paid for? One could argue that that monitoring itself constitutes cyber-loafing in its purest form.
These phenomenon geeks go on to tell us what we already know but won’t confess - that the bulk of our furtive frivolity is frittered away on entertainment sites! Translated: We’re catching up on celebrity gossip!
Only to prove my point, and for the credibility of this writing, I took a few moments this morning to explore the trend, for my readers’ sake. Here you have it: TMZ reports that Jermaine Jones is off “Idol” for concealing his criminal record; Charlize Theron has adopted a baby boy; Oliver Stone, Chuck Norris, and Snoop Dog are all supporting Republican candidates; and a poll reveals that Americans think the top three most overpaid in their fields are Kim Kardashian, LeBron James, and Snooki. And their fields would be reality TV, professional basketball, and vacuous immaturity.
OMG. That is a waste of time.
Anyway, it’s great to have Cyber Loafing Monday formally anointed. Now we can mark our calendars and do it again next year! It may not be baseball, but it’s a pastime.
Since the practice of naming new habits and linking them to days of the week is open for the entrepreneur, I have some suggestions for the remaining weekdays that may resonate with the desperately deskbound: How about “Angry Birds Tuesday”? Come on! You know who you are!
“Solitaire Wednesday”? “Talk like a Thug Thursday.” (Am I trying too hard?) OK – “Fandango Friday”! It’s prep for “Cinema Saturday.”
And thanks to the World Wide Web, whenever we’re in search of a reason to celebrate we need go no further than the special days-of-the-month calendar available online. This much-needed resource offers an array of parties-in-the-making seeking dedicated party planners and causes awaiting their champions.
For example we just missed a salute to hiking gear: March 14th - International Fanny Pack Day.
My sentimental side speculates that a sweet and tolerant husband somewhere memorialized March 31st as "National She's Funny That Way" Day.
Making the most of these newfound tools, I’m trying to envision a way to celebrate Elvis’s birthday, January 8th, in conjunction with April 11th - "International Louie Louie Day." On second thought, it’s probably best not to envision such a thing.
Respecting the value of global relations, April 26th commemorates “Hug an Australian Day.” Appropriate to our traditional income tax deadline we find that April 15th also marks “Take a Wild Guess Day.” And, in the realm of public service announcements: April 24th – “National Hairball Awareness Day,” a venerated occasion in the Plath household.
At last. I’ve got it! Here it is: The pushback from Cyber-Loafing Monday: “Get a Geek into the Sunlight Sunday.”
Mark your calendar. It’s got legs.
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