More Media Banning

According to Computerworld:

"About 54% of U.S. workplaces don't allow social networking, a study finds, while an additional 19% grant access solely for business use. Just 10% of the 1,400 chief information officers surveyed by an IT staffing firm provided full access to social media at work. The executives said they were concerned the tools would distract workers."

I'm not sure how I feel about 54% of workplaces preventing social media access. I can definitely see why, a quick check to see what's happening on Facebook could easily lead to getting paid to message friends for 30 minutes. On the other hand, it seems to me that employees should have enough work to get done that it's a non-issue. I don't know anyone addicted enough to social media to risk getting fired because they didn't meet their quota but absolutely had to arrange a Friday night party during work hours. If a company doesn't have enough work to keep them busy for the 8 hours a day they're there, should they even be at work? I know that's how my jobs have handled things, if they don't have work for me to do I don't come in. My hours are scheduled to fit the work load. It's that easy. I don't waste time twiddling my thumbs, and the company doesn't pay me to do it. If it's a job where waiting on calls or customers is a necessity...well then why not allow social media access? It's a way to pass the time. It may not be productive but if a company has designated an employee a task and visiting those sites doesn't hinder their performance, why block them? What's the difference between getting paid to stare out a window or read a book, and getting paid to tweet?

There's the question of breaks too, isn't what an employee does during their lunch hour their own business, as long as it's nothing illegal and nothing hurting the company? Why should they be blocked from checking in on what a friend did over the weekend on their own time?

I'm not about to, nor am I prepared to, argue that there are benefits to the standard worker using personal Facebook or Twitter accounts on company time for personal reasons. The question is whether or not it's actually harmful. If employee distraction is that big of a concern, maybe something more important than blocking social media needs to change.