Challenges Mount for Interns

The challenges have been mounting for interns in recent months. The biggest challenge? Interns' ability to waste time at work by surfing the internet has been thwarted by internet-monitoring programs installed on supervisors' computers.

Intern Jonah Anderson is having a lot more trouble wasting time. "Back in the day, when I was bored at work, I just looked online. You know, espn.com, cnn.com, the usual. Sometimes I even tried to look at stuff that was work related. And then there was this one time when I went too far, and looked at some inappropriate materials. But it only happened once, and I didn't get caught."

Anderson believes the crackdown is just a good way for supervisors to take back some of the time wasted by interns. "You think my boss isn't sitting back in his office, looking at whatever he wants? We all know he is." Since monitoring began, Anderson has been reading other stuff while at work. "I try to confine myself to magazines and novels. I'm about halfway through the 'Roots' series of books since last week. Its too bad I don't have a TV in my cubicle, because I'd be watching 'Passions' over my lunch break."

As the government begins it's program of internet monitoring, some fear that restrictions on what you look at on the internet will extend into the home. For her part, Anderson wants to avoid that. "I'm already restricted at work. When I get home, I want to download some movies and eat dinner. What's next? Are those asses going to start forcing me to eat brussel sprouts?"