Is There a Cure for the 'Distraction Virus'?

We all want to succeed in our careers. We go to school for at least 16 years. We study late at night to pass exams and get certifications. We take on-the-job training, and try to teach ourselves new skills. We attend industry conferences to build our knowledge and cultivate peer contacts. We read productivity books and blogs, and try to get more work done in less time. We work nights sometimes, and weekends. Success is important to us. And then along comes YouTube, the agent of our destruction. And FaceBook. And BoingBoing. And Slashdot. And Digg. And Fark, the Drudge Report, Neatorama, Apple's Movie Trailers page, eBay, Flickr, Break.com, Wikipedia, Craigslist, Amazon.com. Google, for crying out loud. The Internet is an incredible productivity tool. But it's also distracting -- and evolving LIKE A DRUG-RESISTANT VIRUS to become more distracting all the time.