Texting teens Associated Press has published a feature story on how email is losing favour with young people “to instant and text messaging, and to the chatter generated on blogs and social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace,” and how “the shift is starting to creep into workplace communication, too.”

The article, published on the MSNBC website, quotes Anne Kirah, senior design anthropologist at Microsoft [with whom I had the pleasure of working], who reflects on the difference in multi-tasking capabilities between young people and adults:

For that reason, she says bosses should go right ahead and use their e-mail — and shouldn’t feel threatened by IM.

“Like parents, they try to control their children,” she says. “But companies really need to respond to the way people work and communicate.”

The focus, she says, should be the outcome.

“Nine to 5 has been replaced with ‘Give me a deadline and I will meet your deadline,’” Kirah says of young people’s work habits. “They’re saying ‘I might work until 2 a.m. that night. But I will do it all on my terms.’”

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