GovCentral

With technology promising to make a work environment more efficient, how would you say it actually affects your office productivity?

It seems with technology here in my workplace that supervisors and managers like to work from home more frequently in the summer and spring months. Also more frequently closer to holidays as well. So if you need to see them they are "conviently" unavailable. Yet it does not count as a vacation day or a sick day because they are working from home.
In the one instance computers and the internet are both powerful tools that can be used to yes save time but also create headaches at the same time. For instance when you need to send a protfolio to a co-worker overseas he can print it out in a matter of seconds or minutes depending on the size and speed of the connection. On the other if you get a virus or such and it spreads through the network and affects all the computers on the server well you can count on working over and missing dinner.
Personally I don't think we will ever be a paperless society or a paperless world for that matter due to the fact that hard copies have to be maintained somewhere for a duration of time, due to sensitivities and whatever else. Also not everyone likes to read a novel on their computer or on their mp3 player. The occasional joke will probably always be printed and hung only to be torn down and thrown away as you said. The only thing we could try to do is to be self-concious about it and try not to waste and try to remember our passwords. :)

I've worked from home and depending on whether there are other people around - I can get as much done as working in the office. Where it gets tricky is if you are managing other people or coordinating events.

As long as I have the resources available, including the ability to converse with team members with real-time messaging services or video phone, then I do think I could get more done at work, as far as developing applications go (part of my job). I always get distracted by the voices in the next cubicle, people stopping by to ask some random question, or events that go on for something I am not a part of.

I'm in agreement with tmollerus.  It will always be the people who are responsible for the increase/decrease in productivity, not the technology.

Technology can be used for both good and bad.  But it's not the technology itself, but the user behind it that matters.  How often do we hear of killings, people having sites on the internet that the government has to keep an eye on?