Your laugh of the day from David Robinson’s column in the San Francisco Chronicle:
I think I’m addicted to e-mail! Even when I have a big project and a looming deadline, I can’t resist checking every 45 minutes or so. I realize that if I’m at a conference and when I’m traveling, six to eight hours can go by without me checking e-mail and the world keeps turning. How can I give up my obsession?
Every 45 minutes? Why wait? Some of us know the second email arrives. Part of Robinson’s reply is below:
Above all, e-mail is intermittently rewarding. Every once in a while, a message arrives with a big payoff: New business from a client, a compliment from senior management, or just a friendly note from a colleague you haven’t heard from in a while. As any slot machine player knows, it’s the intermittent, unpredictable reward that most controls behavior.
Yes, email is exactly like a slot machine. Seriously. You get rewards, but they are intermittent and unpredictable. If you have trouble with an email addiction, stay out of Vegas.
January 21st, 2009 at 11:59 am
Time will tell if I hit the UUA “jackpot” with the email aka “electronic communication” that I posted as an open letter on The TEA blog on Thor’s Day January 15th 2009 just around traditional tea time at 4:37:00 PM.
January 21st, 2009 at 3:04 pm
Yeah, if 45 minutes is bad then I am the most doomedest person on planet doom.
January 22nd, 2009 at 7:37 am
My phone checks several email accounts constantly. 45 minutes? The author needs to get some better technology. There really is no problem as long as I keep the phone charged.
January 22nd, 2009 at 7:46 am
I’m thinking there may a generation gap between myself and readers v. the writer of that letter. I’m picturing a desktop computer with an email program without any automatic notifying system.