As reported by Daniel A. Begun on Hot Hardware yesterday, an interesting new study has been released from researchers at Ohio State University and the University of California that indicates the use of instant messaging (IM) can improve productivity. The finding that may be particularly counter intuitive to many people is shown in the following chart:

It doesn’t seem to make sense, does it? One might normally think that instant messaging users would be more likely to state they “rarely complete a work task without being interrupted.” All else being equal (and the study notes that the demographics of users and non-users are essentially identical), having an additional communications tool would intuitively lead to more interruptions – but the study found the exact opposite.

Why might this be? Well, the study theorizes that IM users have a unique ability that enables them to flag their availability – i.e. they can “turn off” IM when it would be bothersome. It goes on to note that it is often “socially acceptable” to provide a terse “I’m too busy” reply on IM, though it is unclear as to why this might not be considered an interruption. One theory that’s not covered in detail (though it is alluded to) – perhaps workers that frequently use IM are able to make quick queries to obtain required information on whatever they may be working on. Might this accessibility be considered by some respondents as “avoiding the interruption” of having to play phone or email tag?