I know the party-line. Smartphones in the workplace are bad. For all the same reasons we always hear why technology [insert name here] is bad. Workers are just looking at porn. Smartphones make people downright rude at work.

But I think this is just Luddite finger-wagging. Check out this article from The Wall Street Journal:

Don’t feel guilty about browsing the Internet at work—turns out it may actually improve your performance.

Hmm. That sure goes against everything everyone thought they knew about workplace rules. I thought it might have just been me, but I’ve known for many years that changing my focus to something for a few minutes leads to extreme bursts of creativity and decision-making, while grinding things out can give me writer’s block and accelerate fatigue. Turns out it’s a general phenomenon.

Business owners have to have Internet connections. In order to comply with document retention needs and balance it with security and privacy, an awful lot of extra layers of hardware, software, and expenses have to be added.

But you don’t face the same security risks when users are browsing the Internet on their own smartphones or iPads. All of your data can remain locked-down and extra security policies won’t keep people from getting at any website. They’re not using your bandwidth—and it sounds like they’re recharging their batteries.

Sounds like a win-win to me. Obviously, this doesn’t mean that you should allow people to indulge their excesses. Work still must be done. Human contact is still required.

But think twice before someone tells you to get off their lawn freak out about the latest gadget. They might be wrong and they’re probably swimming against the tide anyway.