An interesting piece in the WSJ regarding the US
productivity slowdown:
As the article notes, Silicon Valley folks are typically
gung-ho about technological breakthroughs and productivity. Technology
enthusiasts appear to see only the beneficial effects from new technology. These
days, in debates surrounding US productivity slowdown, it is often posited by
techno-optimists that our inability to accurately measure the impact of tech developments
is the main problem.
What is, however, absent in such discussions is the increasing tendency to engage in unproductive activities as a consequence of some modern technologies –
social media; (trolling) online shopping sites; watching dumb YouTube videos, etc.
Just because an employee or a student is sitting in front of an internet
connected device does not necessarily imply that they are engaging in
productive activities. Having 24/7 access to Netflix might be a great tech
breakthrough but it is not necessarily a productivity enhancing change.
Related:
http://vivekjayakumar.blogspot.com/2015/06/productivity-slowdown.html