e-Mail Trance

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How much time do you spend on Facebook, Google or YouTube every day? How often do you drift into e-mail trance while using your Smartphone? It’s quite remarkable when we think about how much things have changed over the past decade because of these technologies, which are now an integral part of our daily lives.

This thoughtful, informative article asks these questions. Quite remarkable, indeed.

Years ago, I labeled each of my e-mails. Google makes it simple to create and manage these labeled e-mails. Except that, as the volume of my e-mails grew, labeling became a tedious task and I repeatedly fell behind. So I abandoned it, and relied instead on Google’s strong search mechanisms when I needed to find a particular e-mail. Still, for a while, the volume of e-mails was difficult for me to manage. I often dreaded opening my Inbox, and felt so overwhelmed that I’d just open one or two e-mails, then put off the others for another time. Or, unfortunately, forget them.

Getting my BlackBerry, my first smartphone, was truly a game-changer for me. Whenever I had a handful of seconds, I’d skim my e-mails, read the ones I wanted to read, and reply. I’d delete the rest. By the time, I opened my Inbox on the laptop, it looked marvelously clean! Mind you, I still fall behind, but not as badly as before and it’s easier now to catch up. BB literally changed how I communicated.

Then, I got an important lesson on communications.  From an unexpected person (a venerable gentleman), in an unexpected place (the post office). I posted about it on Facebook.

I do my best to be mindful of where and when I use my BB, especially when I engage in that absorbing activity of e-mailing. It’s usually longer messages to read, and longer responses from me. But I do fall occasionally into that trap of e-mail trance, when I’m with someone.

These days, how well do you actually connect with the people you’re with? 

Thank you for reading, and let me know what you think!

Ron Villejo, PhD