E-mail Addicts/GC Addicts....Is this YOU?

[SATX*APhi]

I used to think I could quit checking my e-mail any time I wanted to, but I stopped kidding myself years ago. My e-mail program is up and running 24 hours a day, and once I submit to its siren call, whole hours can go missing. I have a friend who recently found herself stuck on a cruise ship near Panama that didn't offer e-mail, so she chartered a helicopter to take her to the nearest Internet cafe. There was nothing in her queue but junk mail and other spam, but she thought the trip was worth it.

I know how she felt. You never know when you're going to get that note from Uncle Eric about your inheritance. Or that White House dinner invitation with a time-sensitive R.S.V.P.

My friend and I are not alone. According to a Gartner Group study, 42% of American e-mail users — and there are more than 100 million of us — check e-mail on vacation. Nearly 1 in 4 look for messages every weekend.

Dr. David Greenfield, founder of the Center for Internet Studies in West Hartford, Conn., believes that at least 6% of us are what he would classify as compulsive e-mail checkers. "It sounds silly, but people report withdrawal symptoms when they're away from it," he says. "It's very likely the brain gets the same kind of hit from e-mail as it does from gambling."

If e-mail is really as addictive as gambling, there must be a 12-step program somewhere to treat it. Sure enough, a Web search turns up an e-mail recovery program created back in 1997 by a pair of Florida State University administrators, Perry Crowell and Larry Conrad. It's pretty crude, Crowell admits, and because it was written before the explosion in users, traffic and e-mail viruses, it seems almost naive. "If we were to update it today, we might very well declare defeat," says Crowell.

Unwilling to give up all hope, we consulted a few experts and pieced together our own 12-step program for breaking the e-mail habit (or at least getting it under control). It goes like this:

STEP 1: ADMIT YOU HAVE A PROBLEM. Mark Ellwood, author of Cut the Glut of E-Mail, calculates that white-collar workers waste an average of three hours a week just on sorting through junk mail. If you spend any more than that, you had better read on.

STEP 2: RECOGNIZE THE SYMPTOMS. Dry eyes, back aches, wrist cramping and numb fingers are signs that you are spending too much time at the keyboard.

STEP 3: TAKE RESPONSIBILITY. If you didn't send so much e-mail, maybe you wouldn't get so much.

STEP 4: PRACTICE THE RULE OF THREE. If an e-mail thread has gone back and forth three times, it is time to pick up the phone.

STEP 5: DON'T COPY THE WORLD. Think twice about the people you put on your cc: list. If they all respond, then where will you be?

STEP 6: TURN OFF THE CHIME. Nothing triggers a Pavlovian response faster than a ringing bell, but a flashing icon in the task bar comes close. Turn both off and your urge to check will diminish over time.

STEP 7: SLOW DOWN. Answering messages the moment you get them creates an expectation that you will always respond as quickly. Let it be known that you won't. Train people to call if it's really urgent.

STEP 8: TOUCH EACH MESSAGE ONLY ONCE. If it isn't relevant, hit the delete key. If it is, set it aside, and plan to spend some time at the end of the day to reply.

STEP 9: LET YOUR SOFTWARE DO THE WORK. The more you filter out spam and divert e-mail lists to their own folders, the more manageable your in box becomes.

STEP 10: GET HELP FROM HUMANS — and I don't mean your therapist. Senior managers: let your assistant wade through your In box for you. Ordinary mortals: ask friends to stop by or phone in from time to time to interrupt your e-mail reveries.

STEP 11: DON'T CHECK YOUR E-MAIL AT HOME. This may seem extreme, but forcing yourself to go to a library or Internet cafe will at least allow the possibility of some face-to-face human interaction in your life.

STEP 12: TAKE TIME OFF. Designate one day a week that is utterly e-mail free. That goes double for cruise-ship vacations.







Perhaps the same thing could be applied towards Greek Chat. I know we have some Greek Chat addicts out there. I'm one! Maybe I can apply the 12 step method. Hmmmmm.....

When I went to So Cal last year to meet my then-BF's family, I was forbidden to go online to check email, to check GC, and to check my Asian Avenue notes. I figured...what's the harm in not going online for a week? Still, I couldn't resist logging on to everything once the then-BF went to take his showers.

And then...at work...my boss informed me that I had to give up something...so it was either GreekChat, AsianAvenue, e-mail, or my AIM. I couldn't possibly give up any of those things...but when that day came, I reluctantly gave up my AIM. I figured the first three were vital to keeping me sane at work.

Still, I don't think that 12 step process is going to work for me.

[juniorgrrl]

When I'm at school, I'm on a resnet, and therefore connected 24/7. Because I was an IT major working on many group projects at once, I had people contacting me ALL the time. I kept my email checking every 10 minutes, with a notify when I got new mail.

Why did I just not have them call me? Because most of the stuff they were contacting me for was so damn stupid (not being able to read things off of disks, stuff they should have known from class, etc) that I didn't want to have to waste my time talking about it. Its much easier to just dash off an email - plus its a lot less confrontational - I can write very nicely that someone needs to improve their stuff, whereas if I had to talk to them, I'd probably be so damn angry that their skills are so sub-par and are depending on me to do the work that it wouldn't turn out pretty.

I went on a cruise once, I resisted the urge to check my email from an internet cafe in grand cayman. When I'm not in school, I don't get that much email. Only my very closest friends have my private addy - and they know better than to forward things to me