EMAIL: “What Hath God Wrought?”

I’ll never forget the thrill of sending my first fax: “You mean I can just type a letter, print it, and then send it off to anyone, anywhere, just as long as they have a fax machine at the other end?” 

In my state of wonder and excitement, the best I could think of was the tired old cliche: “What will they think of next?” 

As I recall, it took “exactly” one week, two hours, and 17 minutes to get my answer—the Internet and email.

Now, this was truly amazing! “Do you mean I can instantly send a message from my computer to anyone, anywhere, at any time, as long as I have an email address?”

Wow! This is over the top!

It’s so easy and so friendly. I can hardly believe how much time it saves. What I like best is that if I have a quick question or a thought pops into my head, I can fire it off without a moment’s hesitation. It’s so liberating not having to go through all the time and hassle of making a phone call and the accompanying painful pleasantries of the old; “Hi, how are ya?” song and dance.

That’s the greatest thing about email—it saves so much time. My favourite part is that you can contact people you hardly know. You can be friends with people you don’t even like! And get this—I can even send an email to my customers and business associates on the weekend. 

This is saving me so much time and making my life so easy! I can’t imagine how we ever lived without it!

Fast Forward a Few Years

Help! I’m drowning. I just spent three hours cleaning out my inbox, took a five-minute bathroom break, and found three new emails squatting in my inbox; one’s spam, one’s an FYI marked “highest priority,” and the third one’s a request from somebody I think I almost know!

Makes me think of  Samuel Morse’s first telegraphed message, “What hath God wrought?” It was an ominous forecast.

Email’s Astonishing Facts & Trends

So here we are. The facts and trends make Samuel Morse’s question more fitting than ever.

A worldwide survey in 2006 of all Intel IT employees showed the following:

• On average, each employee spends 20 hours per week managing email, which includes two hours per week processing 30% of incoming messages viewed as unnecessary.
• 40% responded that email has a negative impact on their stress level.
• 31% responded that email has a negative impact on their quality of life. (1)
• Another study conducted in 2009 found the following:
• Email consumes an average of 13 hours per week per information worker.
• If an average knowledge worker makes $75,000 per year, the time spent reading and answering emails costs a company $20,990 per worker (2)

According to a 2010 AOL online survey:

• 62% of people check work email on the weekends
• 19% choose vacation spots with access to email
• 59% check email from the bathroom
• 46% say they are addicted to email
• 60% check email on vacation (3)

And in case those survey results don’t shock you, try these on for size:

• The average corporate worker spends a quarter of their workday on various email-related tasks. (4)
• Participants in a study by Renaud and colleagues claimed to check their email, on average, once an hour. However, when the researchers spied on them, it turned out they checked their email every five minutes. (4)

Clearly, email usage is out of control, but it doesn’t have to be. You don’t have to live a life of reaction. You can live through this maelstrom in perfect calm. 

If it weren’t so, it would mean your future – everyone’s future – would be at the mercy of whatever was sent our way. That’s not only untrue, but it would be unacceptable on any level.

References

1. Zeldes, N., Sward, D., Louchheim, S., “Infomania: Why We Can’t Afford to Ignore It Any Longer,” First Monday, August 2007, 12(8)
2. Feldman, S., Hidden Costs of Information Work: A Progress Report (IDC #217936), May 6, 2009
3. AOL 2010 survey, http://o.aolcdn.com/cdn.webmail.aol.com/survey/aol/en-us/index.htm
4. Radicati Group, www.radicati.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/email-stats-reportexec-