Email Bankruptcy
A new one for the dictionary, I hope.
Email bankruptcy = “when you are so inundated with email (both genuine and spam) that you have to delete everything and start over again”. from Urban Dictionary
Thanks to Philip Tan who introduced me to this new term. He sent me a copy of the following excellent article, in an envelope:
Click for Washington Post article on email bankruptcy
Here’s a list of people who’ve filed for email bankruptcy:
- Moby (musician) is taking a break from email for a year.
- Fred Wilson (venture capitalist) “I am so far behind on email that I’m declaring bankruptcy.”
- Prof. Lawrence Lessig (Stanford University professor and internet freedom-fighter) declared bankruptcy a few years ago, saying “I eventually got so far behind that I was either going to spend all my time answering emails, or I was going to do my job.”
No big surprise. Inevitable, I guess. Commercial spam aside, there are just too many emails where the writer has not thought to make the email relevant to the reader. Then the huge quantity of irrelevant emails reaches to the limit where the signal becomes noise and we cease to pay attention.
Tom Merritt, in a quick aside on a recent edition of CNet’s BuzzOutLoud podcast, also revealed that he was getting slower at handling his email replies. Not bankrupt yet though. I’m about the same. I’m notorious for not replying promptly: I now write my replies once a week, unless it’s urgent.
In case you need some advice… Lawrence Lessig explains how to declare email bankruptcy in Wired 14.08: How To: Be More Productive.
