Students who spent 10 minutes surfing the web after completing a tedious task were then 16% more productive than those who had devoted their break to nonweb activities such as talking on the phone, texting, and e-mailing. This finding resulted from a study of 96 undergraduates conducted by Don J.Q. Chen and Vivien K.G. Lim, of the National University of Singapore. In addition, the web surfers subsequently reported higher levels of engagement and lower levels of boredom and mental exhaustion than the other students. “Browsing the Internet serves an important restorative function,” say the researchers, who advise managers against blanket prohibitions on personal web use.

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