Why We Should Limit our Usage of Instant Messengers

As you know, I am quite keen on new communication technology and I love the possibilities brought to us by the Fourth Revolution. At the same time, minimizing attention-disturbing interruptions is essential for productive work. As a result, I find myself taking an increasingly strong position against all sorts of Instant Messaging Apps, in particular on the phone.

These are all attention killing, important work avoidance beasts. Learn to tame them!

For example lately I had an argument with an acquaintance because I did not want to install on my phone a widely known chat app. Of course it makes communication easy, free and instantaneous. My point was that I did not want to be interrupted constantly, and that I try to keep significant chunks of time available for focus. Therefore, I prefer asynchronous communication means such as email, and limit drastically instant messaging tools. I keep old-fashioned SMS for emergencies, because it’s harder and it costs a bit of money – so that people think twice before using it!

Have you ever tried to focus on meaningful work while responding to Instant Messages? I can’t. As a result I tend to lose time or do things of minor importance in the meantime. Instant Messenger is supposedly designed to save time, but it distracts us from doing the important stuff.

I thus minimize those tools, remove all sorts of notifications on my phone, and for those that are unavoidable, I use the functions that allow to be undisturbed while I do important work.

Discipline is required for instant messaging tools. What is your’s?