Sweetness, who often sends me fascinating readings, recently sent me a post entitled "E-Mail Reply to All: 'Leave Me Alone'". I enjoyed the read on many levels; NextStage's research into attention, Brad Berens' posts on attention, ... lots of stuff.The thrust of the post is that people are so overwhelmed with email they're shutting it off. In some cases they're shutting it off for a while (like I do periodically) and in other cases, well, forever.
Hear! Hear!
The concept is "email bankruptcy". Sweetness' email to me is included in the next few blog entries for those who want to read about research into turning your email off.
E-Mail Reply to All: 'Leave Me Alone'
By Mike Musgrove
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 25, 2007
Last month, venture capitalist Fred Wilson drew a lot of attention on the Internet when he declared a 21st century kind of bankruptcy. In a posting on his blog about technology, Wilson announced he was giving up on responding to all the e-mail piled up in his inbox.
"I am so far behind on e-mail that I am declaring bankruptcy," he wrote. "If you've sent me an e-mail (and you aren't my wife, partner, or colleague), you might want to send it again. I am starting over."
College professors have done the same thing, and a Silicon Valley chief executive followed Wilson's example the next day. Last September, the recording artist Moby sent an e-mail to all the contacts in his inbox announcing that he was taking a break from e-mail for the rest of the year.
The supposed convenience of electronic mail, like so many other innovations of technology, has become too much for some people. Swamped by an unmanageable number of messages -- the volume of e-mail traffic has nearly doubled in the past two years, according to research firm DYS Analytics -- and plagued by annoying spam and viruses, some users are saying "Enough!"
Those declaring bankruptcy are swearing off e-mail entirely or, more commonly, deleting all old messages and starting fresh.
Boy, can I appreciate that last paragraph. People who email me routinely get a response (sometimes a month or two later) that starts with "Surfacing from research, catching up on emails". I also make it a point to tell people "If you need me, call me. I'm much easier to reach via phone than via email."
I am curious what other people think...Right now, I'm thinking I'll go for it.
(more to follow)
I'll be speaking at the Society for New Communications Research Annual Awards Gala Summit on 1-2 Nov 07 in Boston. Come on by and say hello.
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