I have no words of wisdom to share with you this week — I mean, why break a couple of years of consistency? — so I thought I’d be nosy and ask some questions. I’ll share my answers as well, dipping my feet in the water first to demonstrate that there aren’t any sharks waiting.
The overall theme here concerns emails. I receive about two hundred a day. Around seventy percent of those are deleted without being read — I receive a number of newsletters and such which are of irregular interest — but if I don’t trim the bush regularly they seem to be fruitful and multiply. This week was an extremely busy one and this morning when things quieted down a bit I felt a bit like Captain Kirk in the Star Trek episode, “The Trouble with Tribbles,” when he opened the cargo space and the hull was overloaded with furry round creatures. Herewith then, are my questions and my answers. I would appreciate it if you would share your answers as well.
1) How many emails do you receive on a typical day?
175- 200
2) How many emails do you wind up reading before deleting each day?
20-50
3) Do you faithfully delete or file away emails on a regular basis — say, daily or weekly — or do you keep everything in your inbox?
I attempt to weed my inbox daily; failing that, I don’t let it go any longer than a week before doing so.
4) How many emails — read or otherwise — are in your inbox right now?
203
5) What’s the date of the oldest email in your inbox?
March 11. Of this year.
6) How often do you check your email inbox?
Several times an hour.
7) Have you ever checked your email inbox during sex?
No. Who has time for sex? I’m busy checking my email.
8) How many email correspondents do you have who absolutely have to have the last word in an email exchange, regardless of who initiated the conversation?
Three
9) Have you ever decided that, however juvenile it might be, you were going to have the last word in an email exchange, and deliberately continued it with pointless observations?
Yes
10) Did you “win?”
Yes
If so, how long did it take?
Four days
11) If you check your email obsessively, do you get impatient or angry with someone (like your spouse, best friend, or love interest) who does not?
Yes
1) How many emails do you receive on a typical day?
500+
2) How many emails do you wind up reading before deleting each day?
50-100
3) Do you faithfully delete or file away emails on a regular basis — say, daily or weekly — or do you keep everything in your inbox?
I have a pretty good spam filter, so 200-300 of those messages, being spam, are automatically sent to a folder that is set up with a scheduled deletion of every more than 30 days old. I let it set like that in case someone calls me and says “Hey did you get my email about that big dollar job?” and then I can search the spam folder for it.
4) How many emails — read or otherwise — are in your inbox right now?
426
5) What’s the date of the oldest email in your inbox?
March 5 Of this year.
6) How often do you check your email inbox?
Constantly, my email goes to my Android which I look at about 5 minutes.
7) Have you ever checked your email inbox during sex?
Only if we take a break to catch our breath between sets.
8) How many email correspondents do you have who absolutely have to have the last word in an email exchange, regardless of who initiated the conversation?
None…they may think they do but I can last longer every time.
9) Have you ever decided that, however juvenile it might be, you were going to have the last word in an email exchange, and deliberately continued it with pointless observations?
Yes both in email exchanges and text / instant messaging. I do the same thing on the phone as well, and sometimes in actual conversations. The latter is best accomplished through body language…ie. They say the actual last word and then you stare at them with an expression that says you’re waiting for them to finish. Just keep looking them until they get uncomfortable then say, “Oh…That’s it?”
10) Did you “win?”
I never lose.
If so, how long did it take?
Kevin Bronahan still won’t make eye contact with me since he walked away from a conversation in 1998.
11) If you check your email obsessively, do you get impatient or angry with someone (like your spouse, best friend, or love interest) who does not?
I don’t get angry or impatient, I just realize that they have no concept of real time communication, they are losers of the highest order and are incapable of rational thought or the basic common courtesy of responding to every email or text message I send within the international standard of 10 seconds or less! Jerks.
I love it Basil! I no longer feel alone, even though I don’t get out much. Thank you!
1) How many emails do you receive on a typical day?
5-10
2) How many emails do you wind up reading before deleting each day?
3-4
3) Do you faithfully delete or file away emails on a regular basis — say, daily or weekly — or do you keep everything in your inbox?
Delete everything daily.
4) How many emails — read or otherwise — are in your inbox right now?
0
5) What’s the date of the oldest email in your inbox?
N/A
6) How often do you check your email inbox?
Twice daily, unless I’m looking/waiting for one.
7) Have you ever checked your email inbox during sex?
No. My computer is in the other room.
8) How many email correspondents do you have who absolutely have to have the last word in an email exchange, regardless of who initiated the conversation?
One
9) Have you ever decided that, however juvenile it might be, you were going to have the last word in an email exchange, and deliberately continued it with pointless observations?
Yes
10) Did you “win?”
Yes
If so, how long did it take?
two days
11) If you check your email obsessively, do you get impatient or angry with someone (like your spouse, best friend, or love interest) who does not?
I’m just the opposite. I get upset when someone else checks their email obsessively. Especially when they are talking to me, eating at my table, or having sex with me at the time.
Dave, I have just decided that I want to be you when I grow up! Thanks!
200 emails a day? I suggest you stop trolling the Porn sites
But if I stopped doing that, think of all of the webcam girls who would be unemployed!
1) How many emails do you receive on a typical day?
Between work and home, 50-75.
2) How many emails do you wind up reading before deleting each day?
Almost all of them. Most of them I don’t delete, I archive them in one folder or another for future reference.
3) Do you faithfully delete or file away emails on a regular basis — say, daily or weekly — or do you keep everything in your inbox?
My inbox _is_ my filing system. Well, I have a few other folders I use too. About five. What filing is done is done daily.
4) How many emails — read or otherwise — are in your inbox right now?
Thousands at least.
5) What’s the date of the oldest email in your inbox?
Late 90s.
6) How often do you check your email inbox?
Often. At least once an hour, more if not busy, but I’m often busy.
7) Have you ever checked your email inbox during sex?
No, although if I forget to mute my phone, text and email message beeps have interrupted. It’s not a popular move, I assure you.
8) How many email correspondents do you have who absolutely have to have the last word in an email exchange, regardless of who initiated the conversation?
None that I know of.
9) Have you ever decided that, however juvenile it might be, you were going to have the last word in an email exchange, and deliberately continued it with pointless observations?
No. Never even crossed my mind that this could be a thing.
10) Did you “win?”
n/a
11) If so, how long did it take?
Am I being trolled?
11) If you check your email obsessively, do you get impatient or angry with someone (like your spouse, best friend, or love interest) who does not?
With everyone who does not, impatient yes, angry not usually.
The late 1990s, Vincent? That is very cool! I keep waiting for some sort of tax or fee on storage of old e-mails, “old” being defined as more than two years. Such would probably wear out a lot of “delete” keys.
Before I answer, I have to admit to three separate e-mail accounts: personal, professional, and an alias (set up to receive offers from one of clients, as they will not add any of our real names/e-mails to their distribution lists).
1) Pro: maybe 50-60 avg; personal at least 150; alias
2) Pro: nearly all. It’s rare that junk mail makes it to my inbox. Everything else actually matters, at least if I wish to remain gainfully employed and make money. We do have some sort of spam filter/spam box where I no doubt receive hundreds of junk mails. I am supposed to check it every now and then to make sure a client e-mail hasn’t slipped in there (which has happened), but I am too lazy for this. where I do receive Personal: Less than 10. I get an extraordinary amount of junk mail. Sadly, many are newsletters I signed up for. Alias: Only checked when I need to look at our client’s offers.
3) I’m horrible about creating files and/or deleting. Everything remains in my inbox. I do have some newsletters automatically deleted after a certain number of days.
4) Pro: none. Really, those matter. Personal: 4158 Alias: Maybe a few hundred. Too lazy to check right now.
5) Pro: Maybe a year. Every so often my mail server fills up and I go on a mass deletion rampage. Personal: December 2008. That’s when I opened this particular e-mail account. If I still had the old one I would have stuff over a decade old. I am sooo lazy with deletion.
6) Pro: All the time. It comes to my phone. Personal: I have it running all day long, so whenever I have a few I check. I know, it’s mostly junk, but it’s a compulsion. Alias: only when I care.
7) No. I don’t answer the phone, either.
8, 9, 10) It’s never even occurred to me that this is something people do. Maybe it’s a guy thing? Definitely sounds like 8 year olds in a car. Since I’ve never thought of this I would lose because I would never play.
11) Sometimes, especially if I need an answer right away and I know the other personal also checks their e-mail obsessively. Otherwise I just don’t care.
Obsessive, yet lazy. That’s me.
I know a lot of people who do not bother with deletion, Kat. I even know a couple of exceeded their e-mail servers supposedly limitless limit. That sounds like a quantum physics problem, but apparently can occur.
Re: the last word thing, I seem to run into more with people who are 1) on the West Coast and 2) in the music business. Go figure.
The following comment was sent via email rather than publishing in the comment box. It is from Laura Hardy.
1) How many emails do you receive on a typical day?
20-30
2) How many emails do you wind up reading before deleting each day?
10-30
3) Do you faithfully delete or file away emails on a regular basis — say, daily or weekly — or do you keep everything in your inbox?
Like you, I weed regularly. I astore those emails I believe are relevant in separate folders.
4) How many emails — read or otherwise — are in your inbox right now?
Acct#1 = 27
Acct #2 = 12
Acct#3 = 3
5) What’s the date of the oldest email in your inbox?
April 27th, 2013. It’s my cousin asking if she can come for a visit. I think if I ignore it long enough she’ll get the hint and stay home.
6) How often do you check your email inbox?
It depends on my work schedule: daily to every couple of days.
7) Have you ever checked your email inbox during sex?
Sorry, I don’t understand the question.
8) How many email correspondents do you have who absolutely have to have the last word in an email exchange, regardless of who initiated the conversation?
I don’t engage in a war of words. I prefer thermo-nuclear weapons.
9) Have you ever decided that, however juvenile it might be, you were going to have the last word in an email exchange, and deliberately continued it with pointless observations?
Okay, so my cousin did start a one-up game. She swears her mother was worse than mine. I had to remind her of the last time my mother attended a family event and the blood-bath that resulted. After consulting other members (victims) she conceded my superior parentage.
10) Did you “win?”
Hell, yeah. If you can’t win fairly resort to assassination.
If so, how long did it take?
One day
11) If you check your email obsessively, do you get impatient or angry with someone (like your spouse, best friend, or love interest) who does not?
No. Sometimes “ignorance is bliss” is real.
Thanks for going above and beyond, Joe, as you so often do. Laura, are you by any chance from Louisiana? It is said that you can’t have a wedding there without a bride and a knife-fight. I’m sure the same holds true for family reunions. As far as fights go, there’s no such thing as a fair fight. You do what you can to walk away intact, and thermonuclear weapons are on the table.
Confession time: I’m too busy to clean out my inbox. I have 8,197 emails in my business inbox! And that’s just the unread ones! The oldest one is 23/11/2010. Anybody want to see my basement?! LOL. No, my house isn’t nearly as bad, but yes, it could definitely use some decluttering, too! Think I’ll go get started on that inbox right now… But what if some of those unopened emails are important? Like the box of gourmet kitchen stuff I haven’t unpacked in 6 years? 🙂
I recently got rid of 5500 unread emails. It took some doing and creative searches, but it was gratifying.
Terri
Terri, just out of curiosity…how long did that take you?
Jodi, I moved into my present residence in 1994 and recently started decluttering. I am discovering a treasure trove of objects, though it’s about a one-in-ten ratio of gold to garbage. Maybe your inbox will produce the same results. Good luck!
Just to be clear, the emails I haven’t opened aren’t from people who’re writing to me directly about editing or presenting a workshop, but are more general stuff, like subscriptions to various blogs, etc. that I just don’t have time to check every day!
And yes, the basement is a whole other story, with lots of actual stuff to toss or give away – whenever I can find the time!
I loathe email, and am somewhat afraid of it. At last count my Yahoo email address had 33,153 unread emails, at which point I abandoned Yahoo and opened a gmail account. I hate checking emails, give my daily queue a cursory glance at best, open very few messages, and have been known to miss important communications because I’m avoiding email altogether. I receive occasional panicked calls from loved ones because I’ve missed their messages over a period of several days. Most people eventually learn that if they really need to get ahold of me, they should use Facebook or the phone! 🙂
Oh, and my oldest message is from 2004!
Kathryn, I think you win the prize for most unread e-mails! You also bring up an interesting point, that being that people have developed for better or worse an expectation of a more or less immediate response to an email and become concerned or upset when such does not occur. I’ve attempted to get into the habit of quickly acknowledging the correspondence and advising that I’ll reply at greater length in a few days or so. Of course, then you have to do just that!