Facebook Chat: Another monumental waste of time - TechRadar UK

There hasn’t been such potential for time-wasting since Facebook itself hit the general consciousness. For IT admins and overly strict bosses across the land, Facebook Chat is the stuff of nightmares.

You know, most of the time I work in an office. Yeah, so I spend part of the time out of the office, seeing various companies and whatnot. But the rest of the time I’m sat at my desk, talking to people on the phone or, more pertinently, via IM like the rest of the office-bound populace.

I’ve always used MSN (Windows Live) chat. Recently, I’ve decided to use Chat within Gmail a bit more, as there are some different people on there, notably a friend who has carelessly moved abroad. And, occasionally on my second PC, I use Skype to message some other people, although I don’t keep an eye on it too much. Now Facebook has got in on the act.

Okay, so Facebook Chat may be fairly unobtrusive as one of my colleagues pointed out, but it’s also yet another way for people to contact the hell out of me. I didn’t sign up to Facebook to enable people to chitter chatter their way into my life and I certainly don’t need another method for people to talk to me.

There’s only one thing to say. Facebook Chat is a very bad idea.

Trouble for addicts

Actually, it’s a very bad idea only because it’s fantastically well executed – the kind of app Ajax was born for. Trouble is, it’ll lead to even more Facebook addiction.

For IT admins, blocking MSN or Skype is relatively easy. But blocking Chat on GMail or Facebook is impossible – unless you restrict net access itself. And for most of us these days, that’s impractical.

That main problem for all of us chat addicts is that you need to have Facebook open in order to use Facebook Chat - unlike the app-based Windows Live Messenger or Skype. Yep, so Chat in Gmail works like that, too, but many people who use GMail are well used to having it permanently open anyway. But having Facebook open all the time? That’s like, going to end in zero work!

I guess anything that encourages more communication should itself be encouraged, but when one of my friends wrote me a message in three parts on three different systems this morning (albeit "There’s just…too many…ways to communicate!") I knew it was time to take action.

So, if you’re reading this wondering why you can’t get hold of me, now you know why.