Procrastination used to be the thief of time. These days it is Facebook. Bosses grumble that staff waste hours fiddling around on networking websites. The inboxes of users are clogged with spam recording the latest non-event in their cyber social lives (“Dear member, a bored stranger just looked at your profile!”). Online communities include Skiving on Facebook, whose 115 members evidently believe employers are too stupid to rumble them.

The use of networking websites has spread contagiously among the computerised classes. If the cost in time wasted exceeds the value added, the relationship will resemble that of a parasite to its host organism. The main function of the technology will then be to divert resources towards its survival and growth.