People Like Email
May 26, 2005 – 10:33 amAt least that is what the authors of this article claim. According to the article:
The survey revealed that, on average, people check their mail about five times a day, and a quarter of them cannot go without it for more than three days at a stretch.
Five times a day? Try fifty. Can’t go without it for more than three days? It’s more like three hours. Amateurs!
7 Responses to “People Like Email”
My send/receive button fell off the other day.
I often behave irrationally, to which my email checking bears witness. If I’m bored I may check my email about once per minute, and my send/receive clicks never travel alone. That’s a potent mix of insane and pathetic, if you ask me.
By Kristjan on May 26, 2005 at 2:05 pm
I have my email program set to check for mail once every minute. And I always have one of my computers on when I am at work or in the apartment, although I turn them off when I go to bed. So, unless I’m in transit somewhere or asleep, I’m always connected to my email.
By Adam on May 26, 2005 at 2:49 pm
I’ve rewired a cochlear implant to interface directly with my hypothalmus (I can spare a few lower order functions like breathing, but there’s no way I’m giving up on my cortex’s ability to surf the web, enjoy a good movie, and… oh yeah… research). The implant has a wireless receiver on it it which is linked to my cell phone (along with a voice synthesizer which has also been hardwired into my cranium). The phone is set up to be constantly taking a call from my server which is continuously reading mail over the phone to me in a specialized shorthand I’ve devised for this purpose (I use call waiting to take more traditional calls). Since my email is now hooked directly into low order brain activity, not even sleep can break my connection. “Reading” email has thus become for me a continuous, inate behavior.
By MDA on May 27, 2005 at 5:08 pm
Mike: It’s all fun and games until the computer you’ve implanted in your brain gets a virus. You should check out The Diamond Age or Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. I have both and would be willing to loan them out. I believe that in one of the books the issue of implanting speakers directly in the skull (transmitting sound through the jaw) and transmitting wirelessly from a music player is discussed. The point is made that it really sucks when marketers discover the frequency for your implanted speakers and start marketing directly to your ear drum. (Think Minority Report-type advertisements here.)
By Adam on May 28, 2005 at 1:52 pm
MDA, I am intrigued by your device, and wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
By Kristjan on May 28, 2005 at 4:02 pm
It’s still in beta. I’ll let you know.
By MDA on May 28, 2005 at 4:54 pm