Technology has made the workplace both a production powerhouse and a distraction disaster.

Enter "life hack," a term coined by a technology writer five years ago to describe ways to use technology to boost productivity in an organized, efficient manner, saving users time and stress.

The original "life hack" idea was to identify software, particularly free downloads, that would help cut through the clutter of operating system options, detours and interruptions that come with today's office.

Today, the term encompasses much more. Websites with word play names such as lifehacker.com, lifehack.org and lifehackery.com cover general tips for organizing and improving all parts of your life, from comparing pricing between Amazon and eBay to "5 Ways to Survive a Devastating Hurricane."

It can make for interesting reading. But, if you're not careful, absorbing all of those productivity tips can make for an unproductive afternoon.

"It's the great life hacker paradox," said Kevin Purdy, senior editor at lifehacker.com in Buffalo, N.Y., which offers both software-based and general tips for saving time and boosting productivity. Mr. Purdy, a former newspaper reporter, said he got his current job after becoming "an avid reader of the site. Which means I wasn't the most productive feature writer in the world."

But he's plenty productive at lifehacker.com, part of the Gawker media empire, with recent postings on how naps can bolster your brainpower and determining which is the best social network for you.

"We try to post as much general interest stuff as we can, like household cleaners and a variety of other things. But we're really a site for knowledge workers." The goal, he said, is to identify the parts of your workday that regularly result in lost time "and make them less annoying and frustrating, and easier to use."

The sites can be quite handy in today's fast-paced world of technology, said local professional organizer Leslie McKee.

"My impression is that there are a lot of productivity tips that are helpful and do aid in productivity. Our technology is growing so fast that there needs to be some kind of venue to help you get through it."

Her Mt. Lebanon-based business, McKee Organizing Services Inc., primarily works in private residences, often helping to organize a home office.

It's not unusual, she said, to find home offices with computers that might be incompatible with the printer or other digital devices. A lifehacker website might be able to steer them to a patch that will solve the problem.

"You have to understand what you're given through the technology. A lot of people don't, and are afraid to ask. A lot of these sites help them over those hurdles," she said.

Rather than seeing a competitor, she sees the sites as a source for "how to make things easier in your everyday life."

Some examples?

Mr. Purdy said it can be as simple as directing unimportant (read: not from the boss) e-mails into a separate file that you check only once or twice a day. "If you really stand back and look at it, most of it doesn't need to be read right away."

Another time-saving tip is "learning to avoid using your mouse as much as possible" by programming the computer so a single keystroke can be a shortcut to performing common tasks. "If you learn those, you can quit the mouse thing. Over a year, it adds up to real time."

As for the risk of wasting too much time scanning productivity tips, Mr. Purdy says there is browser software "you can use to block your worst impulses" by limiting access to the most tempting sites after 15 minutes.

Mr. Purdy says lifehacker.com tries to do its part too by waiting until lunch time to post most tips.

"We hope it is just a little break for their eyes to go to, and then they get back to work."

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