State Senator Looks To Ban Solitaire
from the bad-news-all-around dept
It seems like a pretty straightforward issue. A state senator in North Carolina is claiming that he can save the state tons of cash by passing laws banning games like Solitaire and Minesweeper from government computers. While many may react by saying that state employees shouldn't be wasting time like that, the issue isn't quite that simple. It's not like banning these games will suddenly turn non-productive time into productive time. If state workers are looking for ways to slack off, they'll find them somewhere else easily enough. As plenty of studies have shown workers are feeling overburdened by new technologies that make their worklife creep into their personal life. Letting someone blow off a bit of steam by playing some solitaire shouldn't be a big issue. In fact, if they can do it quickly during down time it may be a "refresher" that lets them be more productive the rest of the time. Now, obviously, there are some who abuse the availability of the games, but those people should be found out for not completing their work -- not for playing games. All this will really do is make a bunch of state workers even more disgruntled -- and that can't be good for productivity.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Computer Training
We install the PCs a few weeks early and encourage those people to play solitaire so they can get used to using a computer, using a mouse, etc. It helps to allay the fear of the unknown when that new computer system is installed.
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efficacy of thought
Efficiency? Have you ever listened to a congressional session? They can't pronounce the word. We could save millions/billions a year by sending them all home permanently.
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Cuts
As a side note, how much did it cost to even talk about removing solitare?
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Re: Cuts
Foston
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Thank you employer !
I am thankful that my employer allows us to play solitaire WHILE working ... If I didn't have the ability to surf the web or play games while doing my woefully boring phone job, I wouldn't work here.
Does this government 'tard not understand multi-tasking ?
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Re: Thank you employer !
See, multitasking is actually impossible. There have been plenty studies to prove it.
Not that I don't agree, just a bit of correction.
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ban interactive training and online manuals, too
The legislation will also prevent the legitimate uses regardless of the context. We should extend this by making sure that no user is allowed to spend any time learning to use their system -- remove the interactive training and online documentation as well.
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This does not need to be Law.
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Florida to Ban Online Training?
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