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An overflowing inbox is the least of your worries…

Lucy Kippist

by Lucy Kippist

09 May 05:50am

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Filed under: Email, Multitasking, Smartphone, Society, Work

38 comments

Email is bad for you, says a US study that showed just five days away from that familiar ding in your inbox will result in a more varied heartrate. Now you might think that is an indication of stress, but according to this study, it’s actually a sign that you’re in a relaxed state of mind. 

Does this look familiar?

Frankly, this is terrible news. And it’s misinformed, oversimplified and plain untrue. In fact, I completely reject this entire study on the basis of my own relationship with email - a relationship that is best described as a love affair.

Email is my favourite form of communication, second only to the text message. And the reason is simple: They both provide an excellent alternative to actually talking to people on the phone. Oh how I loathe the telephone.

Email is everything the telephone is not. It’s fast, convenient and easy to track back. Sending emails also gives you time to consider your reply. You’re never taken aback, rudely awoken or forced into uncomfortable silence by email. You just reply, delete or ignore.

Another reason that email is not the root of all evil in our society is because that place is reserved by the ominous modern habit of multi-tasking. Followed closely by the second biggest modern evil - addiction to smartphones.

Multitasking is not good for anyone. But just like everything else in life that isn’t good for you, it feels like it is. Multitasking makes you feel like you’ve achieved a big to-do list. People who make lists love to multi-task because it means you get strike more things off that list, faster. And that makes you feel purposeful, important and super organised.

In reality, multitasking just makes you sloppy, distracted and annoying to have around. Nobody is good at doing more than one thing at once. Clearly it is possible to send an email while talking on the phone and scrolling through some photos on Facebook. But one of those tasks will always suffer the consequences of your distracted mind.

You won’t follow the phone conversation properly and end up saying “sorry” or “what?” too many times. Your emails will be riddled with typos and you’ll end up spending far too much time on Facebook.

Which brings us to smartphone addiction. I know a lot about this addiction, because I have one too. The minute I got my iPhone I began a persistent pattern of habitual checking that goes something like this: Twitter, Facebook, You Tube, work email, personal email. Repeat.

On the upside, commuting has never seemed faster and I don’t miss a work conversation. Ever. But, it takes me three times longer to finish a book these days, and I never just stare out the window and listen to music or the conversation of people around me anymore.

I’ve also lost the ability to be bored. Remember bored? And what about listless? Those long, often painful stretches of time where you could not think of one single thing you wanted to do? They’ve completely disappeared. It’s impossible to be bored when you have the equivalent of a home PC, movie theatre, work email chain and your entire social network available to you at the mere swipe of a button.

Just listing these things has made me tired and a bit stressed out. My 20 minute train trip has turned into an extension of my working day. I never just tune out. And while I could tell you what everyone I communicate with has posted on Facebook at any given minute of the day, I don’t necessarily feel any better for it.

But you can’t blame email for that.

Tweet me: @lucyjk

Most commented

38 comments

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    • Louie the Fly says:

      06:22am | 09/05/12

      Yes Lucy, I agree with you about hating phone conversations and loving texting as well as emailing.

      I rarely ring anyone, except my Mum. And boy do I email madly during my long phone conversations (or listenations) with Mum.

      Sadly, spouse, siblings and friends know to listen for keyboard sounds from my end of the phone.  They’ve all taken to ordering me to use speakerphone with “hands on head”.  Sigh

      Reply

    • Steve M says:

      10:20am | 09/05/12

      dont you see how rude that is? If you cant focus your attention on the conversation you are having that is showing incredible disrespect to the person you are talking to.

    • Martin says:

      12:08pm | 09/05/12

      @Steve M

      Wholeheartedly agree.

      The same principle applies when talking to people you meet in the street/mall/park/wherever. If my mobile interupts our conversation, I’ll either ignore it (message bank, people !) or apologise and ask the person I’m face-to-face conversing with if it’s okay I take the call. I’ll keep the call brief, promise to call back shortly and return to the face-to-face conversation. Basic Communication Etiquette 101.

      If you can’t (or won’t) reciprocate that basic behaviour then you’ve lost me. I’ll turn and walk away, friend or not.

    • Kika says:

      12:11pm | 09/05/12

      Perhaps they don’t want to listen to the person speaking?

    • Martin says:

      12:26pm | 09/05/12

      @Kika

      Then politely make an excuse that you’re running late, say goodbye and walk away. It’s not hard and you don’t have to be rude - win, win.

    • Tongue in cheek says:

      03:00pm | 09/05/12

      Yes email is so much better than a phone call.  Some of the benefits include:
      - The ability to BCC random people without the receiver knowing (Alot easier than a 3way conference & mute);
      - The ability to send and receive while driving AND listening to the radio (no radio for a phone call);
      - You can get a return receipt which gives you a record of EVERYTHING;
      - You can spend an entire day in conversation without the need to DO anything;
      - You can complain about the 100 emails you received while secretly revelling in the fact that so many people want to communicate with you;
      - You can have a conversation over 15 emails (rather than a single phone call) which will help stave off work boredom.

      I also love spam.

    • Kebabpete says:

      08:28am | 09/05/12

      My girlfriend is a complete techno-phobe and just can’t understand my obsession with my phone. In turn I cannot understand why her phone lives in her handbag completely unanswered and unloved.

      I don’t ever remember people being happy that they were bored, they only ever complain about it. There is now something there to cure that.

      Reply

    • Fiddler says:

      08:48am | 09/05/12

      Boredom? That’s what happens when you’ve hit F5 on facebook three times and nothings changed

      Reply

    • Smidgeling says:

      08:54am | 09/05/12

      Agreed on email. People at work talk about their emails getting out of control, but I don’t understand. Check, categorise and action when appropriate. Checking and responding to emails is like any other work task you need to prioritise.

      Reply

    • MarkS says:

      08:57am | 09/05/12

      I loathe phones. I only have a landline & never answer it. It is for ordering takeaway. Anybody ringing it is no doubt some fraud trying to sell me something.

      Email is great. Arranging the weekend’s activities is so much easier when you can email everybody & just have them reply all with their yes or no.

      Work has been transformed. The torture device on my desk rings about once a month. What used to take months of letters between parties on the other side of the world can be resolved in days. The phone interrupted work, you must answer it now regardless of what you are doing at the time. Email can be looked at & handled as part of a structured work retinue.

      My theory about all those people with a phone connected to their ear is that they require constant reassurance of their importance.

      Reply

    • Fiddler says:

      09:13am | 09/05/12

      I’m guessing you don’t have many friends then if all your calls are people trying to sell you stuff?

    • Kika says:

      10:22am | 09/05/12

      Friends email and talk on facebook! Not landline! Who has time to sit around and idly chat?. When you email and facebook you can multitask - pay bills, check emails, browse the net, look up your takeaway numbers, book holidays - ALL of this AND talking to your mates at the same time!

    • Steve M says:

      10:23am | 09/05/12

      the phone is an incredibly useful tool in business for maintaining relationships. A quick phone call can resolve so many more issues than playing email tennis. But unfortunately over reliance on email is reducing peoples abilities to communicate via phone.

    • Kika says:

      11:52am | 09/05/12

      @Steve M - Yeah but what’s the point of a call when it always ends in “I will put it all in an email” So you have a recap of what was said anyway? What a waste of time!

    • M says:

      12:20pm | 09/05/12

      Email is important for the contractual stuff I deal with, it’s important to be able to trace back what someone said when and why they said it. The phone is for when I need answers 5 minutes ago.

      Both have their pros and cons.

    • Inky says:

      09:11am | 09/05/12

      “I’ve also lost the ability to be bored.”

      That’s something that hasn’t occured to me. With all this easily accessible and portable technology, when I have time to myself at home, I find myself not wanting to do the things I can do at other times. And so I sit there, listless, not sure what to do until I eventually get frustrated and force myself to find something to do.

      But different people, different reactions, I guess.

      Reply

    • Peter says:

      09:25am | 09/05/12

      I’m a big user and fan of email and SMS for most of the reasons already shared. Particularly because if is a more structured, productive and respectful way to communicate, both at work and with friends.
      My pet hate these days is people who wont go out of their way to read an email that is bigger than the screen on their smart phone. They call you and ask you what it is about because they can’t be bothered trying to read it off their Blackberry or better still, wait until they’re back in front of a computer with a larger screen. I find this plain old rude! Accept that this is the modern, respectful and efficient means of modern day communication and organise your day to incorporate it in a productive manner. Be thankful that i don’t call you with every little thing that pops into my head the moment it does. Instead, often sitting on those thoughts for a while and if need be, summating in a collection of thoughts / ideas that need to be reviewed, at days / weeks end or when appropriate to share. Be thankful that i haven’t called you and made you stop what you were doing to immediately come to my aid because i decided “now’s good for me”. Be thankful that i’m affording you time to review what i need to discuss, before having to respond. ARRRGHHHH!!!!
      These people are right up there with those who ask for reports and never read them. Again, choosing to call the very people who took the time to deliver detailed reports and say, “where are we at with……….”

      That said, i would never want to lose telephones entirely. I do still enjoy a phone call. Particularly with close friends and family. There’s a lot of emotion and feeling you get from a telephone conversation that you simply cant get from an email of FB post.

      Reply

    • fairsfair says:

      09:27am | 09/05/12

      I too am a lover of written communication. I detest the phone (at work and outside of it).

      I particularly dislike my Birthday for all the phone calls you receive. People want to talk to you for ages, you have to recap your one day over and over again make typical birthday chit chat about how spoilt you are (which is true and I genuine mean what I say… the first five times I say it, after that it is simply a P in the A). You miss most of your Birthday dinner because the rellos from down south have rung for a blow by blow account of the presents you got, what your having for dinner, who is at your house. I think it is just the constant interruption. I know that makes me sound terrible and people are just trying to show they care, but I’d much prefer a Happy Birthday text and to see them in person for an extended chat.

      I love email, it makes you more efficient, but it also places added pressure on you. When I worked in Insurance, one of the older Broker’s told me that fifteen years ago you were doing well if you got an entire policy written in one day. These days lodging 30 claims and placing 10 separate lots of new business (query, quote, sale and writing) was frowned upon as a tad unproductive. So even though I love it - it can place some unrealistic expectations on efficiency levels. But I would take that any day over having to listen to people crap on about nothing and put on the old fake laugh about the hijinx their kids got up to at Sizzler over the weekend. I can’t believe he had dessert first!

      As an aside, I am so over office communication. It’s like people are reading from a script. Why can’t you just pass someone in the hall saying hello, eye contact, smile - leave it at that. I am finding lately that people constantly want to talk to me and I am sick of hearing how “busy” people are. I don’t know if it is just my office - but does everyone else constantly confronted by people who are dying to tell them just how overworked they are? If you shut up and got back to your desk - you’d have ample time to get your job done. Oh and don’t get me started on “how was your weekend? Not long enough! - I hear that about 52 times before 10:00am on a Monday. For god’s sake get some new material. Plus I have one particular colleague who is an over-sharer of personal detail with her and her partner… why does she think that is appropriate and how is she getting the feeling that I want to talk about those things with her from me?

      Is the advent and prominence of email causing all of this boredom and what seems like stunted communication? I know I am coming across as nothing more than a b*tch but clearly that is not the vibe I am giving off because people would be scrambling to avoid me if that was the case.

      Reply

    • Kika says:

      11:57am | 09/05/12

      No I totally agree with you.

      And yeah, email probably is killing the art of small talk. When you email there is no room for small talk. You need to be short, sharp and precise. FK I hate small talk in the office.

    • Scotchfinger says:

      04:36pm | 09/05/12

      ha ha fairsfair, you sound like a character in a movie; probably played by Judy Dench or Michelle Pfeifer . ‘JUST. LEAVE. ME. ALONE.’ No doubt you are wonderful and warm, probably attractive, and everyone wants to chat. But inside you are a seething, cold ice maiden who longs to explode one day, perhaps after your friend has described her last bout of lovemaking in pornographic detail. Oh dear, what to do, what to do-o *sing-song voice*. Just be thankful you are the sort of person others want to talk to, not the poor lonely sap who grins hopefully as people pass by, desperate for a friendly, casual chit-chat.

    • fairsfair says:

      09:32am | 10/05/12

      “seething, cold ice maiden who longs to explode one day”... Freakishly accurate! Its really the stuff dreams are made of Scotchy wink I hope Baz Luhrmann directs.

      In all seriousness though, I don’t think I have any ‘lonely saps’ in my office. I will keep an eye out though as I am sure they have far more interesting things to say than the alpha characters who constantly talk about the same things in the kitchen (ie how wonderful they are).

    • James says:

      09:30am | 09/05/12

      I prefer email to phone BUT when I asked an old mate who was a hot shot salesman form the US how to convert more of leads and referrals to sales he said the best way was to get onto them first by phone and then a personal meeting as soon as possible. It was tough to do but I follwed his advice and sales are still booming. High touch beats hi tech every time.

      Reply

    • MattyC says:

      09:49am | 09/05/12

      Correct i talk about a hierachy of communication when i am talking about selling to my staff.

      Meeting
      Call
      Daylight
      Email

      We are social beings and I loath sitting in an office where all i can hear is the clatter of keyboards and no one talking on the phone.

      Gotta go, time to make a call

    • Kika says:

      11:55am | 09/05/12

      You like the sound of people talking on the phone? OMG how do you get work done these days?

      It is proven with our new micro management system that those who rely on phone calls get less work done and are less productive as those who rely on email communication. Why? Because you have to put everything in writing anyway, so you double up your work. Plus, the more calls you make, the more calls you receive.

      If I get a call from a marketer or salesman on the phone I quickly end the call. Just this morning I got a ‘referral’ call and told the lady in no uncertain terms that 1) I never take holidays 2) I never socialise in the city so don’t waste your time. She had nothing to go on so she ended the call. Haha.

    • James says:

      02:36pm | 09/05/12

      @kika You are missing the point. This is not tele marketing. These are enquiries/referrals from potential clients. They are already interested so make personal contact fast. It’s called service.

    • Kika says:

      03:34pm | 09/05/12

      Well where I work service needs to be fast and quick - plus I have to double up what I said on the phone in email anyway. It’s easier and faster and I get more information across in writing. Plus I work in insurance… so I need to scrutinise and keep paper trails of EVERYTHING.

    • Kika says:

      03:38pm | 09/05/12

      And besides… I don’t even like getting calls when I need them. I can’t handle it. Even organising electricians. I get too angry. I have to let my husband organise it.

    • Guy says:

      09:59am | 09/05/12

      Ah, its great to hear someone denounce multi-tasking. Do one thing properly at a time people… I am sick of fixing your ‘minor’ errors because you are too ‘busy’ and ‘have too much on’...

      Reply

    • Shane says:

      10:36am | 09/05/12

      Since I discovered the billion dollar worldwide scam that telephone carriers have been perpetrating with SMS, I’ve almost stopped using it.

      They’re charing 25c for a message that piggybacks onto ‘status’ traffic that is already sent between your phone and the mobile network almost non stop throughout the day (this is why it has a character limit) whether you send an SMS or not.

      Sure, kudos to the telcos for finding a way to ‘monetize’ a system that’s a standard part of their network, but 25c for a single message is a complete scam.

      Reply

    • Kika says:

      12:01pm | 09/05/12

      Oh gosh I detest the phone. Literally when my phone rings at work I feel anxiety bubbling and building. It’s usually cranky people on the other end so it’s rarely pleasant. So after I come home from work the last thing I want to do is sit on the phone to chat to anyone. Those who like to chat on the phone obviously don’t have to deal with endless BS on the phone at work.

      Those at my work who make more calls, receive more calls and are far less efficient than those who don’t make as many calls. Plus in the type of work I do everything has to be written anyway, so any call you make has to be followed with a written communication anyway.

      Reply

    • Pete says:

      01:34pm | 09/05/12

      @Kika: Are you human or an alien life-form???

      Reply

    • Kika says:

      03:37pm | 09/05/12

      Hey I’m not alone here! A lot of people hate phones. I HATE talking on the phone. Hate hate hate it. My Dad is the same. Could be a genetic trait. He loves email too.  I think better writing over talking. I don’t know why. I was born blonde. That could be a reason.

    • Krys says:

      03:10pm | 09/05/12

      I don’t really agree with you on this one. In my experience I find phone calls can often be the quickest way to get an answer about something - rather than waiting for a text or email reply.

      I like email as a medium of communication but I find it very distracting at times. During the day I will shut down outlook when I’m working on something as the constant email interruptions can stress me out a little.

      Reply

    • PaperTrail says:

      03:24pm | 09/05/12

      Ill tell you what i do miss. Getting a letter. Now whenever I see a nice white envelope in the mail I automatically assume (most of the time correctly I might add) that it is either a bill, a speeding fine, or an announcement that I’ve won $1million in the readers digest sweepstakes.
      Bring back the letter!

      Reply

    • TracyH says:

      05:35pm | 09/05/12

      I received a letter today, PaperTrail!! Seriously! For the enlightenment of those out there who have never received one, let me share this exquisite event: I went to my letter box and sitting there, like a diamond in the rough was an envelope, hand addressed to me:). I have recently moved away for work and have left behind my beautiful river property, adult daughter, countless friends, 7 dogs and two horses. Also, a living treasure of a bloke called Stevo who lives in the shed and looks after things (to give some context, he still uses the expression ‘cobber’). Steve doesn’t have a land line, let alone a computer or a mobile. When I saw the letter, I nearly died of surprise! I made an event of carrying it inside, doing my few house jobs, setting myself up with a beer, then opening it. It was 8 pages of shaky but legible script full of details of the day to day shenanigans of what the dogs have been up to ( never was ‘nothing’ so eloquently described!), and general chit chat. I had tears in my eyes…it was BEAUTIFUL!! So many aspects are poignant; imagining him sitting at his humble table with dogs warming his feet, knowing he was thinking of me, knowing he doesn’t have much to say, but making the effort to write little details that might ease my homesickness:). I’d better go…I have a LETTER to write!!!:)

    • thatmosis says:

      07:27pm | 09/05/12

      A lot of the posts show just how disconnected people are becoming when its all about how easy it is to be anonamous and multitask. Its sad really. I live in the bush with my darling wife and two dogs and use the computer to write on blogs etc but real communication between friends should be done either face to face or at worst by letter written in ones own hand with all the little mistakes that come with.
        I make a habit of saying hullo to each and everyone who crosses my path be it whilst shopping or at Golf or at the club and we indulge in actual converstation which is both physically stimulating as well as mentally stimulating. Now emailing or texting means that really you dont have to connect to the person you are emailing and texting and they could be just a number as far as most are concerned. Sure there is a feeling somewhere deep inside that one must have some feelings for that person but seeing that they are at the end of a message with no feelings its a bit like talking to a wall. My advice is to get out there and talk to people before we become a country of “friends” who never meet and never really know each other.
        Technology is supposed to be there to help us not make us slaves to it and miss out on the interaction of others at a personal and physical level.

      Reply

    • Bogan Bob says:

      07:56am | 10/05/12

      It seems that the argument here is the comparison of using an email or phone to communicate. Keep in mind that each has it’s own advantages and disadvantages. From what I’ve read, most of you has either misplaced or forgotten the value of the human touch and sincerity that only a phone conversation can provide. Some of you are quick to bitch about “doubling up” on what was said on an email. We talk to ensure that everyone is on the same page (we are only humans afterall). For some, it can be fairly difficult to translate or perceive tone in writing ie. sarcasm…(unless it is clarified in brackets).....they are different methods of communication, both are equally useful and one should not be seen to take over the other. Do yourselves a favour and take a minute of your sooooo very busy lives and have a phone conversation with someone….and breathe.

      Reply

    • red bottom shoes sale says:

      12:16am | 11/07/12

      Currently it sounds like Expression Engine is the best blogging platform available right now. (from what I’ve read) Is that what you’re using on your blog?

      Reply
 
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