by Sherrie Bourg Carter

Created on: February 07, 2010   Last Updated: February 09, 2010

Electronic communication! What did we ever do without it? Well, if you consider the research, the answer is – a lot more than we’re doing now!

Much like Pavlov’s dog (a classic psychological experiment) who was taught to salivate at the mere ringing of a bell, every time we humans hear a ding, beep, swoosh, vibration, or whatever obnoxious tone we decide to program into our electronic devices these days, we jump! But unlike Pavlov’s dog, we’re not helpless animals at the mercy of a researcher. We’re active and eager participants in our own classical conditioning! And if you believe the research, it’s wreaking havoc on our productivity.  

Who these days doesn’t use a cell phone, text messaging, a personal computer, email, and instant messaging (to name only a few of the devices we use) at work? And who hasn’t programmed these devices to alert us in some way, shape, or form the moment someone decides to reach out and touch? Can you say no one?

Let’s face it. We’re all addicted to instant gratification, and a big part of that gratification is being able to reach just about anyone at just about any time, any place, anywhere. What’s so bad about that, you might ask? Well, let’s see.

According to numerous studies, the effects that interruptions (yes, I know … how dare I defame those precious devices by calling them interruptions – please just keep reading) have on our productivity and performance is pretty substantial.

First, researchers have found that although we “users” (that’s the nice term researchers use for instant communication addicts) believe we have control over when we choose to respond to an “alert” (e.g., beep, ding, vibration signaling that a message is waiting) and therefore see no need to disable these alerts, the truth is that we don’t have as much control as we think or would like to have. Often, the identity of the “sender of the alert” (the intruder trying to access us while we’re working) and the content of the message influence if we respond, even if the alert comes in when we’re working on something important. In other words, we may have the best intentions of not letting anything distract us from what we’re doing, but those intentions often fall to the wayside depending on who’s on the other end of the communication and how interesting the communication is to us.

Secondly,

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