According to statistics from a recent survey by America Online and Opinion Research Corporation cited in the New York Times*:
– 41 percent of the respondents check their e-mail in the morning before going to work
– 25% said they never go more than a few days without checking e-mail
– 60% check it on vacation
– 5% looked at e-mail in the bathroom.
That last one is where I draw the line!
Based on the title of her book, time-management expert Julie Morgenstern evidently advises that to avoid too much stress due to doing work at home one should Never Check E-Mail in the Morning. However, according to Steve Pavlina once you check email in the morning (before work?), you should not check it again until the end of the day. That seems extreme to me, but I like Steve’s idea to experiment on how infrequently you can check it without causing problems, that is, assuming feel that your email has gone out of control. I wonder about this myself. The thing is that I love to read and I like to write, so for me, email really may be addictive. I will know this is so the first time I find myself doing it in the bathroom!
*(11/20/05 article by Lizette Alvarez titled “Got 2 Extra Hours for Your E-Mail?”)
#1 by Paul J. Anderson on April 13, 2006 - 1:49 pm
Being a Treo 650 addict, I can’t imagine ever being away from my email for more than 5 minutes. It’s pathetic, I know. I have learned two things:
1) Don’t bring your mobile email device with you to dinner, on a date, or when playing with your children.
2) Don’t read email before going to bed (unless you want to be up all night thinking)
I wonder who actually ADMITTED reading email in the bathroom? It must have been an anonymous poll.
_Paul