Shock solution to Facebook abuse
The ‘Pavlov Poke’ sends an electric shock to users accessing Facebook. Is this the end of the social media access debate?[youtube id=”eH2PEBGPXwk”]
It’s been one of the greatest debates of recent years. On the one hand, HR practitioners who believe social media platforms should be accessible at work, because they foster trust and accommodate those tricky ‘Generation Now’ kids.
On the other, HR people who believe social networks ruin productivity and should be banished from the workplace as resolutely as child labour and asbestos dust.
Now, that debate seems to have made redundant by the emergence of a dramatic ‘third way’ – allowing workers to access Facebook and Twitter if they’re prepared to put up with a little pain first.
The ‘Pavlov Poke’ was invented by two MIT students. Using Apple UI software, it detects when a user is accessing ‘undesirable’ sites and punishes them by sending an electric shock through conductive metal strips placed on the computer’s keyboard.
One of the students, Robert Morris, said that the device led to a ‘significant, but temporary’ reduction in his Facebook usage.
Watch the video and come to your own conclusions.
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