Everyone knows, I’m a pretty “connected guy”. I have several Notebooks, Netbooks, PDA’s, my iPhone, my HTC smartphone and plenty of other gadgets that are usually constantly connected to the internet. There is practically no IM service and no community I’m not registered at. Although this perception is largely correct, several years ago I discovered that while these communication services can make your life a lot easier and they help you to stay in touch with your people, they are usually a real productivity killer and a constant distraction.
Let’s be honest, 95% of all IM conversations, community messages and even most of your emails fall in one of two categories: They are pretty meaningless, if not stupid -or- they contain important information that really can wait. But yet every single “connection attempt” pops up, “plings” and demands your immediate attention. That’s true for Outlook, Windows Live Messenger, ICQ and even your browser showing Google Talk or Facebook. Everything screams “here, here, read me” and implies “quick, write something back, it doesn’t matter what it is”. So most people just “take a short look” again and again and they wonder why they don’t get anything done…
So how should we deal with that? Although communication is a great thing, the first step is to disable everything… Yep, everything, just shut it off. Don’t let your IM applications connect to the internet automatically on windows startup, do not open Facebook first thing in the morning and leave it running in the back and don’t reply to every SMS right after it has been delivered to your phone. Turn off any annoying “you have new mail” notification on your desktop and for god’s sake, do not update constantly all twenty-something services with meaningless status messages like “Having fun with…”, "Just decided to…" and "Thinking about…". Trust me, nobody really cares, except those people that have the same addiction to those things you might currently experience.
The second step is to define a communication pattern that does not get in the way of your work and your life. The truth is, having all your communication service enabled all day long is like having 10 people in your office and being constantly interrupted because every 10 minutes someone asks you something. It is really the same.
My personal communication pattern is pretty strict. I have three regular times during the day on which I enable all my communication services: When I start my day at the office, right after lunch and when I leave the office. During those periods which usually last about 30 minutes, I open all “channels” to the world, check my email and chat a little with colleagues. I read through my SMS, reply to my friends and return calls. I update my twitter status, take a look at Facebook and check for new messages at studiVZ. After 30 minutes my timer interrupts me, I finish my conversations and disable all tools, sites and features completely.
Of course, this is my way and it’s only working pretty great for me. You have to find your own way, but I strongly encourage you to work more disconnected and don’t get trapped in unimportant, apparently urgent but surely mindless things. Turn off the noise in your life. 
