Social media distractions: Which online activity distracts you most at work?

A Facebook page on a computer in Montpelier, Vt. (Toby Talbot/AP Photo)

Though they're meant to help us on the job, digital tools like Facebook, email and instant messenger are distracting employees and costing companies money, according to harmon.ie.  

In a recent survey of 500 employees at U.S. businesses, harmon.ie learned that up to 60 per cent of distractions in the workplace involve social networks, texting, IMs or email. At larger companies - with more than 1,000 employees - those kinds of digital distractions can result in a loss of over $10 million US per year.

More than half of the harmon.ie survey participants claimed they wasted at least one hour each day due to online distractions, including answering emails or instant messages, posting on Facebook and even navigating between multiple tabs to keep an eye on a variety of tasks.

How do digital distractions affect you in the workplace? Which digital tool do you find most distracting while at work? Let us know in the comments below.



(This survey is not scientific. Results are based on readers' responses.)