Brits Can't Handle the Internet

According to Reuters, most British online users get bogged down by irrelevant web searches. They've even coined a term for it: wilfing, from WWILF, which is short for "What Was I Looking For?". Now, some may say that one man's wilfing is another man's entertainment. In fact, there are dozens of sites which aggregate the results of these "irrelevant searches" and try to generate ad revenue. They are mainly aimed at college guys, with links to odd humor, humorous feature writing, Jackass style mishaps caught on tape, and, of course, softcore porn. But college guys eventually graduate, start working, and even have more time for web-surfing in their cubes. One of these sites even has as its tagline "Killing Productivity, Monday thru Friday."

Now, if these Brits get lost doing a search for work-related matters, is that the fault of the internet, or the fault of an undisciplined mind? I worry that the Nanny state might try to come up with a "solution" for this lost productivity, instead of letting the evil corporate triumvirate of Human Resources, IT Services, and Facilities figure out how to increase productivity in the Information Age. Hopefully, it won't involve more surveillance with people yelling at them to get back to work!