I OUTED myself as a blog reader a few years ago in a rather embarrassing way.

I was eating dinner at my office desk - something journalists are forced to do often to meet deadlines. But I thought I deserved a little break so I launched LiveJournal on my browser to check up on the latest blog entries from my friends and the RSS feeds I subscribe to.

Switching back to work mode, however, I yelled across the newsroom to one of the reporters: 'Have you finished the blog story?' I'd intended to say 'bank story'.

My colleagues immediately ragged me for wasting time reading blogs during work hours. Never mind that I was officially on dinner break.

Oops.

When offices first started allowing workers to access the Internet on their individual computers in the 1990s, surfing on company time for anything not related to work was a no-no. We were warned that our IT departments could track our Web movements - and not just for porn.

Over the years, however, surfing during work hours has become a necessity. We keep in touch with contacts and colleagues through instant messaging; we google or wikipedia for research; we use dictionary.com, thesaurus.com or xe.com to convert currencies.

That's all well and good, but what's the etiquette for Facebooking, YouTubing or LiveJournaling?

For the main, these are still officially viewed as time-wasters. Banks, for example, routinely block these pages from their networks to cut their staff off from the non-financial world.

But how is this different from water-cooler gossiping or taking coffee or smoke breaks?

Whether we openly admit it or not, we all surf the Net. Whether it's surfing news sites, gossip pages, checking personal e-mail or keeping track of stock prices, they are all online indulgences that distract from work.

The question is: What is the etiquette involved for covert Web surfing?

It's not just what you surf during your 10-minute breaks, it's whether you acknowledge that your colleagues are doing it too.

Admit it. You do look around the office and check out what your co-workers have on their screens. The one on your right has MSN message windows flashing on her tool bar all the time. The one on your left is e-mailing his girlfriend on Gmail. The one across the room is always updating her status on Facebook - and you know this because she is one of your 365 friends and her updates appear on your news feed.

I never know where to look when I approach someone's desk - especially from behind. And I know this is a common dilemma by observing what people do to get around it.

For the Web surfer, one trick is to install strategically positioned mirrors so an emergency screen switch can be effected as soon as a passer-by is detected.

For the accidental Web-surfing observer, a way to warn a colleague about imminent territory encroachment is to stomp around the office or yell the colleague's name to herald the approach.

A deliberate Web-surfing observer obviously skulks around in stealth mode to catch his victims unawares.

I avert my eyes out of courtesy. Perhaps I'm too conscious of my own covert surfing operations, but I think it is inconsiderate to make others feel uncomfortable by flicking my eyes towards their computer screen when I go over to their desk.

And even though I don't particularly want to know what YouTube video they are watching, I usually find out anyway thanks to my 20/20 peripheral vision.

As for my own Web surfing, I just don't bother being covert any more. My strategy is to openly surf the Internet in the office to show that I have nothing to hide. So what if I check on my Facebook every few hours? I don't go for extended coffee breaks nor do I require smoke breaks, right?

At the end of the day, it all boils down to efficiency and productivity. If you get your work done well and on time, it shouldn't matter if you take 10-minute Internet breaks instead of faffing around chatting with your office mates.

As for respecting your colleagues' privacy, that ultimately depends on the individual. If someone doesn't think the workplace should afford privacy, then they will pry into your affairs anyway - online or offline. Some people just don't follow any etiquette rule for any activity.

Right then. Since it's my lunch break, I'm off to MSN chat with a friend who is, at this very moment, surfing the Web covertly on his BlackBerry during an army briefing while he's on reservist training.

And I'm not making any excuses for a 10-minute instant-messaging conversation while I eat at the desk either.

joannel@sph.com.sg