For those of you not hip to Internet lingo, IM stands for "instant messaging," one of those great and egregious innovations that enables other people online who have your email or IM address to message you in real time, right now, line-by-line, more like a phone conversation than email.

Pretty cool--unless you don't want to be that accessible or find such disruptions unwelcome. Instant messaging has become a distraction problem at the corporate level and sometimes an out-of-control homework interference problem in homes. Just like they quickly upgraded their skills using cell phone text messaging, teens particularly are adept at text-chattering online via instant messaging--some clocking hours of IM in a day. If you saying, "Not my kid," try this: Offhandedly mention that you are thinking of disconnecting "that darn instant messaging" and watch the reaction.

Enter I.M. Control, a software solution for corralling excessive instant messaging and messaging abuse by scheduling certain hours when IM is allowed and automatically shutting it down the rest of the time. It's called "parents setting limits." Here's how it works: Parents pay for the online-accessible service (available at www.imcontrol.net), download the I.M Control software, then follow simple directions for using the Parent's master control menu. Add multiple kids whose IM'ing needs to be scheduled--from "all access blocked" to whatever blocks of hours you choose to total-hours access. Print out the schedule and hand it to them.

To use instant messaging during permitted hours, kids have to click their I.M. Control desktop icon and fill in their name and password, then sign on to IM as usual. If they're scheduled by total time, they can "time-off" to save precious messaging minutes. A 10-minute warning pops up when the scheduled block of IM'ing is about to close down. Bonus IM time is easily added if kids deserve a reward. And it shuts down only instant messaging during scheduled off-hours and not the entire Internet which may be needed for doing homework.

Does it work? Absolutely. Is it worth the price? Depends on how addicted your teen is to IM and how needy you are of a tech system to change things. Some Internet providers such as AmericaOnline and EarthLink provide parental controls that help with IM'ing, so check them out first. But none are as systematic as this.