I refer to Instant Messaging as Instant Interruption.I’ve had numerous people suggest to me that I install it. I tell them that I’m not interested. Read the book “Peopleware” by Timothy Lister and Tom DeMarco. There’s a whole chapter about concentration, productivity, “flow”, and interruptions.Basically, you’re most productive when you’re immersed in a task. In a state of flow. It typically takes about 15 minutes to get into this state of concentration. The phone rings, somebody asks you a question, or you get an instant message that you attend to, and you’re OUT of that state. That one minute “chat” got you about 15 minutes of lost productivity… “Now… Where was I… Shoot how many did I do so far? What was that thought that I wanted to include in that section? Doooah!”Those of you who are saying, “I can multitask well. It doesn’t slow me down”... well, you’re just kidding yourself, or maybe you have a job that can be done by monkeys.