By Beverly Weinstein

Everyone checks their personal email at work once or twice a day, makes a personal phone call here and there, maybe even checks their Facebook periodically. With so much at our fingertips, the internet has  made it more tempting to take a quick break to see if those shoes are still on sale or what’s going on on your favorite blog. But how much of this kind of behavior is too much and how much is perfectly acceptable?

The Wall Street Journal answered the question of a reader who was fired for inappropriate internet usage and wants to know how to explain this in an interview. While the article doesn’t state what the exact circumstances are (ie. was he/she simply on Twitter too much or was it something more serious), it is obviously an issue that can lead to termination.

More interesting than the article itself though, are the many comments readers have left behind. The article offers telling the truth in an interview as the best policy and trying to avoid going into too much detail, but readers seem to think that simply assuring the interviewer that you’ve seen the error of your ways and will never slip again isn’t honest and that promising the impossible is unwise. One commenter, Joseph Greene, wrote:

“At my employer, there isn’t a soul who hasn’t used the company internet access for some personal purpose. Likely, someday one or two will find the employer uses that to get rid of them. The rest, however, shall happily surf on. The part of the story that I disagree with is the idea that one would reassure an interviewer that it will “never happen again.” Of course it will! What kind of fool believes that employees never surf the internet at work?”

Lewis Adams agreed:

“It will never happen again? Really? Come on, everyone surfs the web at work – whether it be CNN, WSJ, or Sears.com, everyone does it! It’s not right, but if you go too far and say it will never happen again, it sounds a bit contrived. That being said, the article never said if the termination was due to simple web surfing or something more serious such as pornography (in which case you deserved termination). Sorry, but it’s true…If you’re productive and people rave about your output (your production), you can probably go so far as to come into the office in your pajamas and the company wouldn’t say anything.”

What the terminated employee should do in this scenario is really not the issue here, as it depends greatly on what he or she did to deserve getting the axe in the first place. What I find interesting is that so many readers promote or at least accept the idea of breaking or at least bending company policies as long as good work is still getting done. If everyone’s doing it, that makes it ok? Clearly not everyone can get their work done and surf all day.

So, my question is, should companies limit access to popular non-work related sites, such as social networks? Many already do.

One reader noted that there isn’t much difference between taking a little personal time on the computer and talking about last night’s game at the water cooler. So is limited access or surveillance  by companies being too strict? Or is the internet making us slackers? What do you think ?