I hesitate to check my email at work. When I log into facebook (which I look at about 1 minute of every two hours or s0 to catch up on my feed), I don't input anything - I see a status report or something that makes me want to respond in a political way, I don't. I try to remember to do it when I get home, but usually I'm wiped and the thing I wanted to respond to has been bumped off my radar screen. Likewise, when I think of something to blog, I don't. And then when I get home, I'm wiped.
I don't want to do anything at work that sheds light on my personal life, my political leanings, or even just general things that don't have to do with work. I don't even open my google reader, at all, at work.
Am I being too paranoid? Should I just chill out? Certainly, I don't want to blog at work, I do have anonymity I want to preserve.
Remember that I am in a corporate environment, not academic. I don't know. I am always very suspicious of corporations and I have read one too many articles about employees who were fired because they were careless with their usage of computers/networks. I don't know where the line is.
Does anyone have an opinion?
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8 comments:
I too don't even open my reader (and forget about the blog!) at work, but I also just moved out of an academic lab (where I did both with ease) a few months ago. I do think this will persist since my activity is logged.
Hi. It's a good thing to compartmentalize sometimes... its like we don different avatars at different environments. I sometimes worry that we over do it so much that we could end up developing multiple personality disorder or something :(
Get a wireless broadband card for your personal laptop. Problem solved (for a price)!
I'd largely refrain for now, except at lunch. In which case you'll still want to be careful where you visit. The longer you're at your company, the more you will understand about the corporate culture and what is done/not done.
I do the same as you with facebook... just a quick "read only" every couple of hours. I do openly and frequently use my Google Reader, but that's because many of my feeds are listening for work-related things. (I'm a technology project manager at a university.) I think I would work on a personal blog entry at lunchtime, however my blog shows my identity loud and clear and the blog is actually hosted by my university. heh.
For now, you're definitely doing the right thing. But it might be worth asking a trusted colleague what the official (and unofficial) policies are. At my first job, I was very very careful for months, and when I finally asked someone, he laughed that I was being so careful. Corporate policy there: don't do anything illegal or embarrassing. Everything else is fine, and a good way to break up your day. And I verified that nothing was being logged (or was even *allowed* to be logged). I relaxed a lot after that.
Do what other people do! If you've ever caught your boss looking at a news site or sending a personal email, it's probably OK for you to do the same (with limits, of course).
I was super careful when I started my industry job, and then a few months in I went looking for our department's assistant manager, and she was on the phone AND the internet trying to book a campsite for the weekend. After that, I figured the occasional urgent non-work email was OK.
I use Google Reader for a ton of work related feeds (journal TOCs, grant opportunity notifications, any press write-ups of any of "my" PIs, that kind of thing). So I have no problem having that open (I have a one blog post per 20 minutes of work rule!).
Thanks guys. I think what I will do is just never post anything remotely controversial. I.e. no blogging at work! Sadness. :)
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