I was just reading this thread where one of our fellow dopers posts about getting fired for excessive net surfing and it got me to wondering. The majority of my slacking takes place in front of the work computer. I couldn’t imagine not have access to the internet, I’d be so bored even with all the real work I do.
So, what did peope use to do pre-internet/computer days when work was slow? How did they kill time while on break or when at lunch at their desk?
I started my first job out of college in 1987, so while it wasn’t really pre-computer days (we used Wangs!), we certainly didn’t have an internet to browse. Killing time usually involved wandering over to somebody’s office for a chat, wandering upstairs to get some coffee from the break room, etc. Lucky folks that had real offices instead of cubicles could shut the door and read/doze/whatever. Phone calls were a no-no as these were monitored.
On some desperately boring days, my (intermediate-level) supervisors would just have their charges come hang out in their offices with a cup of coffee. No one minded too much as long as there was a genuine lull in deadlines.
All I can say is that I, for one, was MUCH more productive before I had the Internet on my desk. It’s the performance scourge of the millenium, IMO.
I used to actually GO OUTSIDE for a hike in the woods; to feel the breeze upon my face, the crunching of the leaves beneath my feet, the refreshing sights and smells of the forest filling my senses!
Ah, now that was a time!
…well, gotta go surf some more - where does the time go anyway?
Super Mario World.
Hell, even with the internet available to aid in my goofing off better than half my slack time in the office is spent just hanging around BSing with co-workers. I’m fortunate in that my job requires to me get up and visit most every department with some frequency so it’s not automatically obvisous that I’m goofing off if I’m seen loitering in someone elses office for extended periods of time.
I remember the days when nobody had a computer, much less the Internet, on their desk.
If it was a break or lunch, I’d usually read a book or do a crossword puzzle. I might take a walk, or talk to somebody, but usually, I had a book or puzzle. And at one place I worked, there was a group of us who played cards every day at lunch.
If it was work time, it was usually talking with somebody over coffee. Amazing how many work conversations turned into sports or weather (or similar) conversations.
Yep, these days it’s faster to go to weather.com then to ask. 
I don’t know about your offices, but no one in my building actually hangs out around the water cooler; I suspect “getting a drink of water” was the mainstay of pre-Internet slacking, and now that we have IM and all that, folks can actually slack while appearing to work.
This is so great.
We’re not allowed to IM at work. Can you believe that?
But I definitely need the Internet to do my job.
One of the following: