We’ve been heads down on our new release for some time. I will have lots to tell you about IMS 3.0 in the near term, but for now I wanted to point you to an interesting article on why we’re so addicted to email. Mind Hacks analyzes the compulsion to check mail, opening the article with this premise:
“Now email isn’t a drug – it doesn’t deliver a chemical into your bloodstream. Yet it is clearly addictive. I’m a normal rational person (which is to say I’m just normally maladjusted) and I know that I don’t need to check my email as often as it do – certainly not immediately after checking it the first time for Goodness’ sake! – but still I am compelled. What’s going on, and can psychological science help me out?”
If you find this stuff as interesting as I do, then read the rest of the article (and re-read Clive Thompson’s NYT article Meet the LifeHackers because it’s equally fascinating).
If you don’t have time to read the article because Outlook keeps dinging you with unread mail, then give yourself a fighting chance at breaking the addiction by turning off all email notifications via Tools > Options > Preferences > E-Mail Options > Advanced E-Mail Options. Your productivity will skyrocket.