I am on the computer all of the time, but probably could be on it a lot less if I managed my time a little better.
Don’t get me wrong. I love checking out all of the newest sites:
- the top stories on Digg
- and then getting in some Facebook time doing some routine “FaceStalking.”
But I just need to manage it better.
After a few comments by some friends joking about my attachment to my computer screen I started to actually pay attention to how much time I spent on these time suckers…
The hours I spent a day on social networking and social bookmarking sites was pretty ridiculous.
Then I heard about certain apps you can download that keep track of the time you spend on sites. Now my day is much more efficient and well-managed.
Here are some of the neat sites you can use if you have the same problem:
This one is really neat because you can actually set it to block some of the sites as I am sure many of your employers have already done. But if not, and you are allowed free range of all sites, this can come in handy! The best part about it not only can you block certain sites, but you can specify certain times you want those sites blocked as well… so this way you can have a large chunk of time to get all your work in.
This app is really neat. After you download the toolbar in question, you have a range of different capabilities with it. It allows you to block sites, have countdowns for the length of time you can be on certain sites or bookmark them for later if you know you will want to come back.
The really neat part about it is that it tracks and graphs all of your online habits. I think that seeing how much time is actually spent might make you re-evaluate your online habits.
After all, according to the 8aweek : “The average employee wastes over 8 hours per week, mostly on the Internet. 8aweek helps you reclaim those 8 hours.”
This program is once again a little more for businesses because of all of its capabilities. It is a desktop program that allows you to track the sites and programs you have been on and how much time you have been spending on them. It takes all of the work out of it for you because as soon as you tag the different sites and programs, the tracking is all done automatically.
They also have another program if you are looking for a more personal time tracking service:
This works much like the desktop app above, and also has some neat features to boast about itself including goal management and staying up to date with alerts. Either way, these two are pretty neat and have been noted in New York Times, Life Hacker and Business Week.
This one is pretty neat because it works as a countdown. This way you can tell yourself you are only going to spend an hour on Facebook and you won’t wind up asking yourself where the day went 3 hours later… The online timer goes off when it’s time to get back to work.
This online time tracker is a little more intense and probably would be best for businesses, not just an individual person. It costs, but they do have a free 30 day trial that you could check out to see if you like it.
The best part about it: it has a Mac desktop integration feature. 
Don’t you just love when they cater to us Mac fans?
This is a Firefox add-on that allows you to simply and efficiently manage your time spent online. As far as I can tell, it doesn’t break down the info by certain sites, but it does let you know how much time you have spent online. You can also add-on sites to a list that will not count as your time spent online.
This online tracker is free and can be accessed from anywhere. It does the same as the rest and tracks your time and graphs it nicely for you so you can see where your time is being spent.
I think my favorite part about this one is that it is online and so you can access it from any computer, anywhere. I am traveling around a lot and sometimes tend to switch up computers, so if that’s you, you may want to stick with an online tracker like this.
Either one you choose, hopefully they will help you out to monitor your time like they did for me. Now I finally know what the weather is like everyday firsthand. 
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Another great program for time tracking is Intervals. It is especially well-suited for those who also need to track projects and tasks.
Thank you!
Thanks for this weblog post on TimeTracking. I can attest to having done some of this time-wasting in the past and confess to doing this occasionally now as well but not as often as before. I am curious in finding out whether there are tools, a productivity site for individuals rather than the corporate business person &/or company. After having browsed all of the websites it appears that this in itself could be construed as a time-waster. Having to download an add-on/plug-in that integrates into your OS/web browser, access a website based application, I can see that I waste time just going through the reading of what others think of the add-on/plug-in before considering to download it or find out that the web based application has a trial before purchase. I like the tracking of projects in the web apps like Intervals but it seems to me that a small to medium sized business would take more advantage than I. I work from home and would like something that is more on the smaller scale for an individual. I am working with oDesk and yes there is a way to track hours worked with their service but what about when working on my own projects.
Thank you very much!
Thanks for the post.
Is Rescue Timer trust worthy to have in my computer? It clearly says that it collect all the data from my system and it’s installer does not even have a trust worthy certificate and says ‘Unknow Publisher’
Hi John,
I’ve found it to be when I’ve used it. I agree that they should fix that error. You might want to email them and let them know. I have it installed on my system though.
Tim