Being – and staying – productive is the name of the game. And in this age of constant information overload, it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to focus, even while we’re at work. The need to read the latest news, find out what’s the notification we’ve received about, or watching a video of meowing kittens on YouTube, is constantly in the back of our minds – often more than the workload that should be our top priority.

While it is debatable whether or not blocking certain websites leads to an increase in overall productivity, many business owners still opt to do so. If you also belong to this school of thought – or just want to experiment and see what the results will be – here are the types of websites you should consider having blocked at work.

Websites Featuring NSFW (Not Safe For Work) Content

Definitely, the most common type sites to get blocked – even at companies that don’t otherwise block them. Sites dealing with pornography, online gambling, hate groups or offensive speech, these sites are not just things nobody should be viewed while at work, but they can also easily get the company itself into legal trouble. If you want to weigh your options concerning this, we recommend you consult with your lawyer.

Social Media Websites

While it is no secret that social media websites have a lot of positive sides to using them, you should be cautious about spending too much time on them while at work. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and others, these social networks operate on a principle of addiction. We want to see what’s currently popular, what our friends are posting and talking about, and we long to feel that rush of serotonin when someone likes or shares our posts, comments, tweets, and photos.

Even those employees that love Facebook agree that it ultimately hurts their productivity.

Video Streaming Services

YouTube is, of course, the most widely used, but sites like Twitch are also rapidly gaining popularity. Just like social media networks, these sites are designed around keeping their viewers hooked, the difference is that they do so with advanced algorithms that try to predict what videos we are interested in watching and recommending these to us.

Sites like Netflix that stream TV shows and movies are also included in this category. Even if the employees have some free time available at work, it’s better for them to take a short break or a brisk walk – watching what is essentially a TV during office hours puts us in a different state of mind, and our productivity drops rapidly.

News Portals

Not as egregious as the other offenders on this list, but many people don’t react well to seeing news they disagree with or find shocking. Reading about what some politician you don’t like and having to comment it to the entire office is common for people who take the news too seriously. Likewise, reading about some catastrophic event or natural disaster that happened can trigger overly sensitive people and make them depressed for the rest of the day.