Introduction
Instant messaging at work, Slack, Skype, Microsoft Teams, and friends, makes communication extremely easy.
You can reach any coworker in a few keystrokes, with little formality, and often fast replies. You can move a topic forward, share information, a joke, sometimes even a cat video.
All of that makes the channel very tempting.
The problem is that exact ease. Because sending a message is easy, you end up sending too many.
When chat becomes permanent background noise
In chat, people often split one idea into multiple messages, share pointless links, and exchange secondary comments.
Individually, each message feels harmless. Collectively, they become a constant stream.
This information overload has several negative effects.
First, it creates stress. The fear of missing important information, what people call FOMO, becomes constant. Then it becomes hard to identify what is truly relevant among dozens or hundreds of messages. You waste time searching, and decision quality goes down.
But above all, chat constantly interrupts work. It prevents you from entering prolonged focus phases, exactly what Carlson's law describes: a task done continuously takes less time and less energy.
What you can do personally
The first thing is to drastically reduce interruptions.
Turning on "do not disturb" in your chat tool cuts notifications and sends a clear signal. Coworkers understand you won't reply immediately, which discourages non-urgent pings.
Even more effective: close the tool entirely when you're working on an important task. As explained in the Nutella jar: resisting temptation, adding friction between you and distraction is one of the most powerful ways to stay focused. If you have to reopen the app on purpose, you're much less likely to go there on autopilot.
These practices naturally complement removing notifications and creating your focus bubble.
Practices to encourage as a team
Individually, you can already do a lot. But the impact is even stronger when teams share a few rules.
First: reserve chat for what it is actually good at.
Real urgency, quick availability questions, light info sharing, informal talk. For important, structuring, high-stakes topics, email is much better, as explained in asynchronous communication. It lets you bundle information, give context with a subject line, and easily find exchanges later.
Second: use channels properly. "General" channels should be the exception, not the rule. Every message sent to an overly broad channel interrupts people who are only loosely related, or not related at all.
Third: batch your messages.
Sending "hey, how are you?" then waiting for an answer before asking your question creates two interruptions instead of one. Encouraging complete, direct messages reduces these micro-cuts in focus.
Protect your time to do real work
Again, the goal isn't to demonize instant messaging. It has real utility and can strengthen social ties.
But if it becomes the default channel for everything, it turns your days into a chain of reactions, at the expense of deep work.
Protecting your attention gives you the ability to truly work when you're at your desk. Then you can use the time you saved for real moments of exchange, around coffee or a drink, rather than via an endless stream of messages.
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