Digital addiction, especially with communications tools, has been a very real problem since the 1990s at least (with regard to Internets) and has become prevale

Digital addiction, especially with communications tools, has been a very real problem since the 1990s at least (with regard to Internets) and has become prevalent with the rise of social networks. I've built and run several companies since the 1980s and always tried from the start to instil a culture of respect for other people's focus, which ranges from (as CEO) not 'looming' at their office door/desk expecting them to interrupt their focus to not 'telling' (asking) them to do something over a real-time communications channel (since the power differential will often cause them to interrupt something more important). That means people don't interrupt or distract others without first asking politely via a non-realtime method (e.g. email) unless there's a genuine emergency (servers are down!). Additionally, people should not feel obligated to stop what they're focused on to help someone else unless that is part of their role. On the other hand if they're running out of steam, and need a distraction to get their thoughts back in gear, then catching up on help requests or doing something 'social' is OK, including getting outside for some fresh air. With the increasing ubiquity of communications tools a key management activity is helping people to not feel obligated to be tied to them. For example, with IRC and other real-time chat channels where there's a growing expectation that people are logged in all the time: don't! When you're done, log-out. Don't feel the need to have to 'scroll-back' to review history since you were last there. Treat it like entering and leaving a physical building - if you're not there, you will miss what is said. From that comes the well-practised requirement in the non-tech business world that important discussions and especially decisions should be documented (some business sectors require this anyhow) and formalised (via arranging meetings with all stakeholders). Don't assume people who don't respond immediately will ever see what you typed. If it is important to document it in a non realtime way; email, issue tracker, wiki, or whatever suits. And as CEO ensure your people are NOT logging-in/commenting out-of-hours unless that is part of their job. Ensure they maintain a positive life/work balance in favour of their life, even if you have to send them home (as I've done many times with programmers that 'just need to finish this bit' and who you know will likely be there 3 hours later if you leave them).