Love/hate relationship with email!
This post on Somewhere in Between yesterday caught my eye, she asked her readers what piece of technology they can’t live without. I knew my answer immediately–blackberry. Yes, I’ve only had my crack… err.. blackberry for a few months but I’ll be the first to admit I’m completely addicted. Even more so now that my work email comes into it!
I think my need to constantly check my blackberry is because I HATE having a bunch of missed messages. I get upwards of 50 emails every day. If I have anywhere upwards of five unread emails I start to feel anxious. Some of them are just emails notifying me of comments you guys have left on my blog, which I LOVE reading and wipe away the anxiety, but other ones are work or freelance related so I need to take action on them almost immediately. Or, at least I feel like I do. Do you see where the anxiety comes from, especially if I have five or more emails that need actioning. Sometimes 20 or more!
I have a love/hate relationship with email. On one hand, I LOVE getting new messages and I especially LOVE getting blog comments sent to my phone to read in the middle of the day. Even if I’m having a terribly stressful day the blog comments always cheer me up! On the other hand, if I don’t check my email for too long and I come back to find a full inbox I get the overwhelming urge to just X it out and ignore it. It’s similar to my anxiety with google reader.
In a couple weeks we are going camping with my parents for the weekend and I’m determined to turn OFF the crackberry and ignore it for the weekend. I need a break from the constant connection to technology. But, I’m wondering if three days without checking it will just result in even more anxiety when I get back to work on Monday…
Does anyone else get “email anxiety”? If so, how do you deal with it?
PS: Speaking of email, I AM getting your emails r.e. online dating and I DO have questions for you. I just need to find the time to send them off. This has turned into a bit of a big project because you all have so many amazing stories!! Thanks for being patient 
XO
I love email, but I’m good to go away for the weekend and not check it. I saw a piece on the National last night about some teenage girls who went to camp for a few weeks in the summer–no email, no cell phones, no ELECTRICITY. Their comments when they first arrived were very similar to what you said–anxious, needing to keep in contact with everyone all of the time. Two weeks later, they were all so much more relaxed!
Go away for the weekend. Turn off the phone (or leave it at home or locked in the glove box). Enjoy nature, your family and the break from the insanity of every day life!
H =)
It is somewhat surprising how much you are ok on vacation without your blackberry. I think it is because you are in a different environment or you are just busy doing vaca things, but you somewhat forget about your blackberry. Don’t worry the anxiousness will leave for a while then come back as you drive or fly home, but you usually have time and reception to check and answer then. It also helps if people know you are going out of town. They won’t expect you to respond right away. If you are doing it through gmail, you can always set up a filter for it to skip your inbox, or put a vacation reply (that is in labs). Then you can check things at your own pace. Best of luck!
I used to be like that until I worked for a travel agency for 3 years. After 100s of emails a day you just get over it and go through them one by one.
Somestimes when I am waiting to hear back from someone about something important I get major anxiety and check my email every 15minutes and stress about it especially if I cant get to check my email but other then that I dont have a problem!
I am like that with email/google reader as well. I don’t have the option of checking my work email at home, so I just kind of mentally prepare myself to sift through lots of emails when I get back from a long weekend or vacation. I use the ‘flag’ in outlook to flag things I need to go back to – then I don’t feel like I HAVE to respond to something right away…
The google reader anxiety thing is weird since I am reading these blogs for FUN.
Ew, ew, ew – yes, I get email anxiety and I hate it! What I do to reduce stress when I get back is to sort my inbox by “From” addresses. That way I can easily identify all the emails that I don’t need to necessarily read (shopping newsletters, travel alerts, etc.) and delete them all in batches. Then, the only ones that are left are the ones that I really need to read!
I am compulsive about checking email too, but (un?)luckily I don’t have a blackberry – so I can still go through the day and survive without getting online! haha, I’m actually Scared to own one, even though I want it!
I don’t get any work related emails these days since I’m unemployed, so there is no stress in that regard…. I actually love getting emails for now, but I’m sure that once I start to work I will go back to hating it
I definitely used to. But then I basically came to a point where I knew that I was getting too stressed out at/with work and the only way to deal with it effectively was to have a more distinct divide between home life and work life. This was especially important for days I work from home.
Anyways, when I’m NOT working I don’t check email. Period. I may get a call and I’m happy to answer the phone and help/put in extra time – but I will not check email.
I am the same way! I hate not having a “clean” blackberry and if I know there is an alert on it I HAVE to check it immediately!
lately, I think I have “everything” anxiety, meaning I seem to be getting stressed out by everything!! emails don’t usually stress me out, unless they are from my editor, haha. But I do check my inbox constantly. I just keep my google account up all day and I pretty much see right away when I get a new email. I think if I had a blackberry it might give me “email anxiety” but I really don’t get that many emails a day. I don’t have my blogger account set up to email me when I get a new comment and my google account is almost completely just for work emails. (I have a yahoo that gets lots of newsletters and junk mail!). so that keeps thing in check.
anyhoo, I missed yesterday’s post but I wanted to say congrats on the race and that your photos are amazing! sometimes it is nice to stop and take in the scenery, especially on a race like that where you are running through such a beautiful area. glad you had fun!
i never stress about email. if i get to it, i get to it; if i don’t, i don’t. same goes for google reader. i have no problem shutting my laptop off for the night even if i still have hundreds of things to read. i’ll get to them eventually. i’m trying to practice a more relaxed lifestyle and one that isn’t so dependent on the internet specifically, so once 3pm hits, i try to be off the computer. it’s been nice, and i’ve been surprising myself at how much i can get done without the internet constantly hounding me for attention.
I have email anxiety, but instead of checking it constantly, I avoid it. It’s really a terrible habit that I’ve had since I started as a research assistant. My blog email I keep separate, though, and I check that all the time, because it’s full of fun stuff and not work!
This is why I don’t want to get a blackberry. As it is the first thing a do when I get home from work is check my e-mail, and I’m already addicted enough to my compare. I can’t image how crazed I would be if I was actually able to check my e-mail throughout the day
I have a love-love relationship with my crackberry AND email, but I think it’s because only my fun personal email goes to the ‘berry. Work stays at work… they will NEVER know I have one, if I can help it…
I do get “email anxiety” sometimes especially when I’m expecting important emails. Somehow I’ve managed to ignore/not think of me Inbox when I’m out having fun.
I love, love, LOVE being away from my cell, internet and e-mail. It brings a whole new meaning to Relax. I’ve even gotten to the point where I’ll turn off my cell phone at night for a mini-retreat.
I’m not that way with email, but I am that way with Twitter. I feel as if I need to be updated constantly … but it’s odd–on weekends, I spend very little to no time near the internet, and it doesn’t bother me at all.
After getting my Blackberry last weekend, I am absolutely the same way now, too!! But it’s a whole new level – I hate unread emails, but if I open them on my Blackberry, I get crazy when they still remain “unopened” on my actual email server. So now I’m wasting all this time reading emails twice!
And let’s not even get me started on google reader anxiety!! I’ve been away from my laptop most of the week, so I’ve ignored the over 300 posts taunting me from the “All items” link!
Going on vacation without a computer and not a lot of phone service is THE BEST!!! At first I freak out….but after a week without it, I get used to not being “needed” 24/7.
I love getting e-mails with happy blog comments…but I understand the anxiety with getting a gazillion other e-mails, esp. freelance related. Yikes!
Ahhh, I totally get e-mail anxiety…especially since it’s summer, but since I’m president of our PR club, I’ve been getting so many and it just stresses me out. I have to check them immediately as well…and then on the other hand, I get mad when I don’t have any new emails! Haha..