We all know that feeling when you have to pretend to be busy so that your boss doesn’t see you’re goofing off on Facebook. Sometimes, it’s even worse when you need to look like you’re hard at work at the office but there’s no actual work to do. That’s why the jiggle mouse makes such a great tool; this $8 computer accessory just jiggles the mouse around without your input, making it look like you’re industriously working away at the office while actually playing Solitaire or watching cat videos online.
Because of the increase in remote work, employers are keeping a closer eye on employee productivity than ever before.
To defeat surveillance software, employees are using devices. A mouse mover, often known as a mouse jiggler, is one such device that is meant to keep your screen on. I made the decision to test one to see if it would work.
On TikTok, I discovered mouse jigglers. A gadget called a mouse mover makes the claim that it is invisible to your computer. The gadget, as its name suggests, replicates mouse movement to stop your computer from going to sleep.
Employee screen time, keyboard use, and clicks are being monitored using so-called “tattleware,” or surveillance software, placed on company-issued devices. The mouse jiggler won’t likely assist with keyboard use or clicks, but by keeping your computer’s display on, it should aid with screen time management.
What a mouse jiggler does is as follows.
I purchased a $30 Vaydeer Mouse Jiggler from Amazon and gave it a day’s worth of testing.
Setting everything up just took a few seconds. Simply link the power wire to the power brick and plug it into the wall, or plug it into the USB port on your computer. If you’re anxious, use the wall for power. Any gadget that makes it easier for you to avoid work shouldn’t be plugged directly into a computer that belongs to your employer, especially because USB connections also provide a number of security risks.
You can switch it on and off by pressing the orange power button on the left side. If a turntable is turned on, it moves. You position the mouse’s sensor there. The pointer on your screen will start to move extremely slowly once your mouse is in the proper position, preventing your display from going to sleep.
Basically, that is all there is to it. When your mouse is on the jiggler, your computer won’t go to sleep so you can get up, cook lunch, or do whatever else you need to.
Of course, it won’t increase your productivity, but if surveillance software is checking to see if your computer is active, it can make it appear as though you’re still working.
Employer transparency is the real answer
However, we shouldn’t have needed these devices in the first place.
The fact that employer spying is more widespread than I had anticipated startled me. According to a recent investigation by The New York Times, individual employees’ productivity measures are monitored by 80% of the top 10 private U.S. firms.
Additionally, a recent Harvard Business Review research found that surreptitiously watching employees increases their likelihood of breaking the precise regulations that these systems are designed to catch people breaking.
Maintaining workplace morale requires transparency. According to a recent research by management consulting firm Gartner, describing the scope and goal of monitoring can increase employees’ approval of the practise by roughly 70%.
