The Role of Instant Messaging on Task Performance and Level of Arousal

Despite being an informal, collaborative way to communicate, Instant Messaging (IM) remains a pervasive tool. Repeated discrete messages can be unwelcome, and the current technology does not allow for situation awareness information about the recipient of the messages. Therefore, concerns are that IM might be disruptive enough to impair performance on concurrent tasks. In this experiment, subjects were exposed to six different scenarii of an Air Traffic Control simulation game while answering instant messages. Each scenario combined two levels of workload (low and high) and three levels of flow of IM (none, low, high). Performance and time to respond were recorded, as well as skin conductivity, physiological parameter linked with level of arousal. Workload and flow of IM where shown to reduce performance. Whereas gender does not have a global influence on score, women are less robust to IM interruptions, especially under high pressure. As expected, time delay was inversely correlated to score. It also turned out that IM modified the skin conductivity response component associated with mood and overall emotional state. IM and workload have a significant impact on subjects' anxiety, which is also correlated positively with time delay and inversely to score. These results call for a better design of chat interface and a better management of instant messaging.