Jakob Nielsen posits that Instant Messaging destroys productivity and is not an answer to the very real problem of information pollution.
It is naïve to believe that IM is the answer to the information overload that’s ailing e-mail. Continue current trends a few years and most people will get so much IM that they will have to tune it out to get any work done.
IM is even worse than e-mail with respect to one of the most important human-factors criteria: It’s interruptive of task flow because it demands realtime attention. Some things do need realtime attention, but even a one-minute interruption can easily cost a knowledge worker 10 to 15 minutes of lost productivity due to the time needed to reestablish mental context and reenter the flow state. That’s why one of the best ways of increasing the productivity of programmers is to give them individual offices. And that’s why no e-mail program should come with the biff feature turned on by default. (Biff is the annoying ability to ring a bell or flash the screen every time an e-mail message arrives. In fact, the world economy would gain several million dollars per year if this feature were completely eradicated.)
IM is one more toxic spill that’s directing our attention to short-term minor issues at the cost of procrastinating on important tasks that require more than a few minutes of uninterrupted thinking. Any time-management consultant will tell you that the basics of meeting your goals are to prioritize them and spend the most time on the most important problems. To make real progress in creative thinking, problem solving, or other knowledge work, we need to keep out interruptions and set our own agenda. IM, in contrast, lets your agenda be controlled by anybody who has your screen name.
I personally no longer use IM for work or leisure. Since my core team is now located in Palo Alto, they sit within 25 feet of me so I’m more apt to walk over to someone’s desk, use the phone, or send them an email to communicate. As for why I no longer use it personally, I find myself using the web and its accoutrements less and less since I realized a few things. I waste a lot of time on the web, and it keeps me away from other things that I’ve found so much more enjoyable and fulfilling, namely books, music, and real life. Again, common sense stuff, but these days even a modicum of that is good thing.
