Wired writer Seth Mnookin says that Google’s productivity tools—the iGoogle homepage, Google Reader, Calendar, Books, Scholar, Notebook and the Google Toolbar—all made him more likely to procrastinate getting things done:
My campaign to increase productivity had become yet another distraction—and a significant one. Suddenly I needed to time-manage my time management.
So last week I installed a timer on my desktop (and, no, it’s not a Google Timer) to help me limit how long I spend on Google-related sites. I allot myself a half hour a day; after that, I force myself to quit optimizing how I get things done and start actually getting things done.
I’ve definitely spent time looking up random things on Google sites I wouldn’t have otherwise just because I could. What about you? Does Google make you more or less productive (or maybe it’s a wash)? Let us know in the comments.