Instant messaging means fewer distractions

According to Newswise, a study recently published in the Journal of Computer Mediated Communication by researchers at Ohio State University and UC Irvine “found that workers who used instant messaging on the job reported less interruption than colleagues who did not.” The report goes on to say that using instant messaging was often used for short information queries that otherwise would have been handled in a lengthier, more time-consuming email, in a phone call, or in a–gasp! the horror!–face-to-face talk. People are also using IM to schedule meetings instead of just dropping in. Because it’s also “more socially acceptable” to not answer instant messages, they offer the user an opportunity to tailor the conversation or interaction to his needs. You don’t have to talk to someone just because someone else wants to talk to you.

Granted, this has always been the case. When I was young, I remember my mother letting the answering machine take calls because she was too busy after working and going to  school to have a 5-minute conversation, half of which would be to say “sorry! so tired!” and arrange another phone call.

If emails are like letters without stamps–at best–instant messages are shaping up to be like emails with even less authority. I find it very hard to take anything transmitted over IM with any seriousness or gravity. You don’t know who’s at the other person’s computer, who’s writing it, or what any of them are doing.  There’s no authority to them unless, of course, you’re the person sending the message who really has something to say. I don’t think that IM in themselves are causing few distractions. I think that they’re just another way to annoy us, and therefore helping us to build up yet another layer of noise to ignore.

There’s a difference between important and urgent information that often gets confused. Just because something has to be done soon-ish (you need a pen, you lost your umbrella, there are dirty dishes) doesn’t automatically make it of utmost importance to someone’s overall goals. The major goals we have in life don’t distract us. People gossiping do. People, able to reach out to whomever and for whatever reason, fearing loneliness, contact each other just because. Not because they have anything to say, but just because they have a minute to spare or a tiny, potentially original thought came to mind.

Save those thoughts. Store them. Make a few of those into a larger, more interesting thought, and then give me a call when you have something important to say. And don’t feel bad if other people don’t call you all the time. As Joan Didion would attest to, you already have better things to worry about: “To free us from the expectations of others, to give us back to ourselves–there lies the great, singular power of self-respect.”

Tagged as: Behavior, Communication, IM, Instant Messaging, Technology, Work