The Internet is continuing to screw my productivity.

Every time I think I’ve checked out all the neat new Web sites, a friend introduces me to yet another attention-dwindler, and again, I have to corral my curiosity.

This week, it was fmylife.com, the Web site that allows writers to submit Twitter-esque entries about how terrible their lives are.

This sounds horrible: I enjoy laughing at the misfortune of others. I’m not going to lie.

I’m not talking about car accidents, death or sickness; I mean that when people talk about their significant others, co-workers and families and the antics that ensue therein, I can’t help but snicker.

All in all, most of what’s posted are nice problems to have. No mention of famine, poverty or any other truly terrible life circumstance.

This, in a nutshell, is my justification for why laughing at this site for hours doesn’t make me a bad person. In fact, the submissions sound more and more like sitcom storylines. If we’re not careful, the masses may soon be dictating the plots of their favorite primetime series and soap operas. They’re undoubtedly funny enough.

A March 3 entry from eaa145 reads: “Today, for my two-year anniversary I got my girlfriend a very expensive diamond necklace. She got me male enhancement pills. FML.”

Yikes.

Another entry from March 17, from RdL reads: “Today, my parents said that they bought me a

car. I had been begging for one for a year and they always said that I would have to pay for it myself. I got really excited and went to the garage to see my new ride. It was a Hot Wheels car with a note saying ‘save your money’. FML”

Oh, the plight of the poor man.

Part of the humor from this site comes from the fact that people enjoy hearing other people’s horror stories; it makes us feel better about ourselves.

The other part of the funny stems from the fact that people like me, who read the entries, can’t stop reading.

It’s like a bad Facebook-stalking episode; except this time, you can’t seem to peel yourself away from your computer chair long enough to actually go accomplish something.

So to sum it all up, this Web site points out that everyone has a bit of pathetic in them. Sad and perhaps overly pessimistic to say, the bloggers as well as the readers are targeted through this site.

I wish I could stop reading. Seriously, I do.

But life is sometimes just too pitiful not to laugh at. This site is the Internet’s incarnation of this overly broad life tidbit.

OK. The time I spent writing this should have been enough for at least another page worth of FMLs to be posted.

Excellent.