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.
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?
