When I came into this office this morning, I was met with several team members complaining that facebook.com and several other websites were blocked from access. I started my computer and sure enough, Facebook had indeed been blocked.
Actually, a ton of things were blocked. Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc. The funny thing is, I provide services to clients that use these services as a means to promote themselves.
There were also a ton of industry related sites that we refer to and use all the time that we can no longer access. What does this have to do with marijuana? Let me continue and you’ll see.
I called the department responsible for this as well as spoke to several other employees in the company. The general consensus is that this was a blanket-style blockage of many sites in an attempt to prevent any loss in productivity. I pressed further asking if there had been any problems with productivity (I can tell you that my team and another team are certainly on point with productivity). The answer was no. Were there any other problems with people accessing these sites? Maybe personal issues overflowing into work time? Nope.
These sites were all blocked simply because they “may cause an issue.” The software we use for security has these sites in a category that was determined to negatively impact work completion in a corporate environment.
The problem with that logic is 2-fold:
- Because these sites allow for another channel we use to promote our clients, the blocking of them will in fact reduce productivity. Now, I and my team members can not do their job in its entirity. I’m sure this will be fixed, but we will have to go through several meetings about the need for these sites, and I’m sure it won’t be “fixed” for some time.
- These sites have been around for a long time already. Facebook and Twitter alone have been around for years. We can track the usage of any given site by any given employee. We know without any doubt that there are no problems with productivity or professionalism so far.
So here we are, blocked from using these sites that have been proven to have a specific need with real benefits, and have had no negative impacts in their recreational use. This is so because of the advice given to us by a third-party that doesn’t have a knowledge of our company and processes specifically. And that, my friends, is how this relates to marijuana.
Marijuana has been used for thousands of years with proven positive effects. From medicinal to recreational, there have been tests after tests to show a real benefit.
As for recreational use, we know that those who use responsibly don’t cause any problems, and usually abide by the laws of the government, including paying taxes. These are people who have full time jobs, go to school and take care of their families.
Those points aside, marijuana is illegal due to a perceived, baseless threat to society. Usually, the studies and reasons for marijuana prohibition are attributed to people who haven’t actually done any research themselves, but have the ability to make blanket decisions.
In the last few hours I’ve spent at my desk observing the impact of the recent blockage of access to these sites, I’ve seen morality hit a dangerous low. I’m watching, right this moment, an employee blatently shuck some of his responsibilities in a misguided attempt to “stick it to the man.” I don’t beleive this is the proper way in which to handle the situation, but it is still a direct result of the action taken by the company. This too reminds me of the state of marijuana in our country.
When marijuana was finally prohibited, we see an increase in crime and violence surrounding marijuana. And, like the response to the employee trying to fight the system; regardless of the obvious cause of violence by the prohibition and not the drug itself, his productivity will be blamed in a round-a-bout way on social sites like Facebook.
It seems that Facebook is the marijuana of the Internet. At least in my company. And though the owner of the company will go home tonight to update his status or put another video on YouTube, the blockage remains.
Interesting indeed.
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Josh is a pro-legalization enthusiasts. Though he claims not to smoke marijuana, he states that "it's a personal decision with many of the same reasons that I don't drink. Hardly a reason it should be illegal." 
The notion of preventing productivity issues that don’t even exist is ludicrous. It’s like docking someone’s paycheck because you think at some point he or she is going to call in sick to work. Punishing people for something they aren’t even doing – particularly within a company whose responsibility is to help clients use and understand Social Media – is totally asinine.
They are, in essence, making their employees’ jobs more difficult and lowering their productivity by addressing an issue that doesn’t even exist. Nothing improves morale quite like making decisions that scream, “WE DON’T TRUST YOU!”