Work-Life Balance Requires Streamlining Workday Internet Use

Whether it's a job requirement or just a clandestine click-over when no one's looking, checking social networks and surfing the Web during work hours have become almost ubiquitous. Although responding to emails from old friends and sharing memes on Facebook aren't exactly good use of company time, it's become increasingly difficult for employees to completely separate their personal and professional online lives. If work follows you home on your smartphone when you leave the office, outside issues can certainly spill over into the workday.

With home and work lives intertwined, office productivity can take a serious blow if you're not managing your time well. According to a recent study by aggregator service MyLife and market research firm Harris Interactive, the average adult Internet user has three different email accounts, and about half of Internet users manage multiple social networking profiles. Of the respondents with multiple accounts, 86 percent visit each of them daily.

"There's an increasing use of multiple profiles across the Web," said Jeff Tinsley, CEO of MyLife. "People rely heavily on these services every day. Nearly 40 percent of all time spent online is used checking emails and social networks. They have more accounts to do the same thing: connect, communicate and not miss anything."

[Why Americans Need Social Media 'Vacation']

The "fear of missing out" (FOMO) drives many workers to waste valuable time visiting and checking each of their individual accounts. For companies, the answer is not to ban or limit social media use — "I don't know if that's possible!" said Tinsley — but to streamline it.

"Services like MyLife make managing your online universe easier," Tinsley told BusinessNewsDaily. "You can view everything from one place, consume the news that's most important to you and pull all your connections together. We have more than 67 million users who save up to 50 percent of their online time by aggregating their news and social networks.

Based on Tinsley's advice, here are a few ways to boost workplace productivity by integrating the segments of your online life:

Originally published on BusinessNewsDaily.