David McCandless writes:

Emailing, writing, tweeting, designing, browsing, taking calls, Skyping, Facebooking, RSS Feeding – all blurred into a single technological trance. I seem to switch randomly from one to the other. But actually is there a subtle hierarchy in this cloud? Do I prefer some distractions over others? I think so. In this diagram, each level in this hierarchy trumps the next.

Kevin Purdy adds:

You’ll chuckle once or twice reading through McCandless’ examination of how certain things (hot strangers following on Twitter) are more likely to grab his attention than others (a Google AdSense summary). Then, possibly, you’ll think about your own day and how certain things are absolutely irresistible, no matter how many times you tell your co-workers that you’re in “crunch mode” or “keeping my head down”. The idea that “device failure” is the ace attention-getter certainly holds true at Lifehacker East.

If you had to re-map the Hierarchy of Digital Distractions for your own life, what would take up the top few pyramid spots? Tell us your take in the comments, and seek therapy in our top 10 distraction stoppers.

fails to mention reddit...

Where does PandaWhale fits in? :p

Reddit and PandaWhale are just one layer removed from real work. :)