You've got mail, again: Tips for e-mail overload
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BY HILLARY RHODES / For The Associated Press
Remember when “You’ve got mail” alerts were thrilling?
The e-mails that now pour into office inboxes and spill onto BlackBerry devices have left some workers feeling so bogged down with online messages, they can find little time to do anything else.
“We’re like frazzled lab rats, being poked and prodded and beeped and pinged,” says Maggie Jackson, author of “Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age.”
We want to hear your e-mail horror stories. You know, the time you hit REPLY ALL instead of REPLY and everybody got that embarrassing message. Or the time you accidentally complained about your boss to your boss. If you've got any red-faced tales, send them to Micah Mertes at mmertes@journalstar.com.
By the numbers
200: The number of e-mails the average worker receives in a day, according to the business and technology research firm Basex in its report "Information Overload: We Have Met the Enemy and He Is Us."
$650 billion: How much lost productivity e-mail and other interruptions cost us in lost man hours per year.
Cyber thieves are on the prowl
Holiday shopping has begun, and everyone is looking for a steal. That includes criminals.
Internet users will get the usual barrage of offers that are too good to be true. Some will be deals, but others will be duds in the form of cyber criminals.
These bad guys will multiply their efforts this year to get shoppers to give out personal information, according to experts at Trend Micro, an Internet security firm. The struggling economy is giving crooks more incentive for ripping people off and stealing their identity online.
Just how prevalent is online crime? Try $3 billion taken by scammers last year, Trend Micro reports. What's making the chance for this number to be higher this year is that consumers with less money to spend may be more likely to sign up for a bargain - and the crooks know this.
Here are some scams to avoid, according to Trend Micro:
- Messages that say things like: "Your package is ready to ship. Please update your account information," "Your mom's holiday e-card is only a few clicks away," or "Register to win a $5,000 holiday shopping spree."
- Requests to call a number to provide personal and financial information.
- Requests for personal information verification because of a bank merger.
- E-mails with sales information for hard-to-find toys and gadgets such as the Wii.
- Fake online shopping portals.
The safer way to shop online: Go directly to the retailer's Web site instead of clicking a link. If you're not sure of an offer, call the retailer. And never enter personal or financial information into a form that is included in an e-mail.
Trend Micro also advises avoiding surveys that ask for personal information; e-mails with misspellings; 800 numbers to call to claim a prize; and unknown senders of e-cards.
Finally, keep your anti-virus software updated and running. These programs often can detect bad sites.
- McClatchy Newspapers
Constant access to information, communication and technology has becomes such a big issue, experts say, that its implications go beyond a lack of productivity and focus at work. E-mail and information overload also eats into the quality of work relationships as well as those at home.
“Attention is the bedrock to learning, memory, social connection and happiness,” Jackson says.
But office culture has developed to reward immediacy over focus, so that attending to what’s new at any given moment takes precedence over long-term goals. The result? A series of interruptions, such as e-mail, that get in the way of the big-picture goals.
Checking e-mail can also be an all-too-tempting alternative to actual work. And like any form of procrastination, sometimes taking care of e-mail just feels so good.
“E-mail is being used like a drug to get a hit of accomplishment when one feels he is spinning his wheels,” says technology analyst Craig Roth in his blog, KnowledgeForward.
Productivity gurus have also created a cottage industry out of e-mail overload. Here’s the best of their advice:
- Don’t check e-mail in the morning. Experts say you should take care of an important task first thing before checking e-mail, so you don’t use it as an excuse for postponing more pressing obligations.
- Check it in batches, rather than fluidly throughout the day. Some experts suggest checking it twice a day. Others, up to five times. But the important thing is efficiency.
“You wouldn’t do a new load of laundry every time you have a dirty pair of socks,” says Timothy Ferriss, author of “The 4-Hour Workweek.”
- Minimize exchanges. “Learn to propose, instead of asking questions,” Ferriss says. Instead of asking what time a person can meet for lunch, just jump right in and propose a few times. You can use “if, then” language, for example, “If you can’t meet at 11, how about 12?”
- Unsubscribe to lists or newsletters you don’t read. Experts say that if you notice you’re not actively reading a newsletter or other e-mail subscription service, it’s time to unsubscribe.
- Stop sending e-mail. Sending fewer e-mails means receiving fewer e-mails, and sending shorter e-mails will garner shorter responses.
- Take it to zero. In an extreme case, some experts suggest wiping the Inbox completely away and starting fresh. You can always send your contacts an e-mail telling them what you’ve done and to resend any truly important messages.
- Use other forms of communication. E-mail has earned a solid place in the office, but in some cases it’s not the most appropriate form of communication.
“When you’re overusing it for the petty things — like the guy in the next cubicle — stand up and ask him the question,” says Cherie Kerr, author of “The Bliss or ‘Diss’ Connection: E-mail Etiquette for the Business Professional.”
She suggests picking up the phone if an e-mail thread gets longer than three back-and-forths.
“I don’t care how many pieces of technology we have,” she says. “At the end of the day, it’s always going to be about relationships.”
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If any business associate were to call and tell me they cleaned out their inbox and if I had sent them anything important I should resend it I'd have to seriously reconsider doing business with them. "