A recent study aims to disperse the wide-spread belief that instant messaging disrupts office work. It shows IM programmes do quite the opposite, making communication smoother and boosting efficiency.

Instant messengers like AIM, Windows Live Messenger or Jabber make real-time communication easy. This may be good for chats with your friends, but many say they have a negative impact on your work.

Both researchers and employers believe the use of instant messaging in addition to emails, phone calls and face-to-face conversations increases workplace interruption.

A study by Ohio State University and University of California showed instant messages are often used as a substitute for the more disruptive ways of communication.

Text messages can be used to deal with simple and easy-to-resolve issues with little disruption of the normal routine.

In addition people can flag their availability via IM programmes or postpone answering incoming messages until a more suitable time and thus control how much their work is disrupted by co-workers. This practice is more socially acceptable then dumping an incoming phone call.