Ask the Readers: Could You Give Up Email?

Eric Says:

November 17th, 2008, 23:03 pm

I am working on going paperless. Emails have gone to 3 days a week. I am working on more face to face conversations. They are truly more personal than just popping out emails…

Jessica Stalley Says:

November 17th, 2008, 23:04 pm

Email is a convenience of modern times, but it’s really easy to hide behind. I could definitely give it up! There is nothing more personal than sending or recieving a hand-written note, and while not always practical, it doesnt really take that much more time.
As for the internet, however, I think I might die without it!
Especially with all the blogs I love to read :)

A Dawn Says:

November 17th, 2008, 23:09 pm

General population may be able to give up email, Internet etc for a while but definitely not for too long. We, Internet entrepreneurs or bloggers, will never be able to give up these unless we start doing some other non-Internet entrepreneurship. Off the top my my head, I think traditional telephone would only other communication tool we can use instead of Internet.
Cheers,
A Dawn Journal
http://www.adawnjournal.com

Leo Says:

November 17th, 2008, 23:10 pm

I have drastically reduced the amount of time I spend on email and the number of times I check email, but I’m not perfect either. I fall behind and people think I’m ignoring them. I rarely check on weekends but sometimes scan through a bit. I don’t check at night or first thing in the morning anymore. So things have improved and so has my productivity, but at the same time it’s hard to keep up with everything.

I’d love to hear a better alternative to email.

Amanda Says:

November 17th, 2008, 23:11 pm

To be perfectly honest, cutting off my email would be like cutting out a big chunk of my brain.

I can go a week at a time, but to think I could never use it again, or at least not for years, would be heart-breaking! I’ve lived in a few different countries and have friends that I wouldn’t be able to stay in contact much with if I couldn’t use email. And that’s before I begin to think about the freelance work that I get via email that pays half my mortgage.

Tabitha (From Single to Married) Says:

November 17th, 2008, 23:15 pm

A whole week? My first instinct is to say no, absolutely not! But then I remember the vacations I’ve taken where I was not able to access my email for several days at a time and then I think… maybe.

But to give it up for four years? You’ve got to be kidding!!

charles Says:

November 17th, 2008, 23:17 pm

I don’t think l would want to give up email, but I could if I had to.

If I were running a large business or was the president I really would really hate not having it.

Vik Dulat Says:

November 17th, 2008, 23:17 pm

No way. I check my email atleast 2-3 times a day. Without it, I could not survive. However it all depends on if others stop using email. Then I can see that. However, no one is going to stop using email anytime soon.

Email is very much part of me now. It’s like going a day without a cell phone or not going to the store with your wallet.

Come on now! :)

Justin Says:

November 17th, 2008, 23:20 pm

Obama isn’t really giving up email, he’s just outsourcing it. He has an entire staff to basically do his bidding, so if he wants to know something, acquire something, or get something done, like Picard he just says “Make it so.”

I’m guessing that most readers of this blog, like me, don’t have that luxury. While I would LOVE to give up email permanently, aside from my cell phone it is my connection to the rest of the world. Also, I’m a system administrator so it is a part of my daily work life.

That being said, I’ve been reducing the amount of personal email I send and receive. I get a handful a day, at most.

Brett Legree Says:

November 17th, 2008, 23:20 pm

Interesting question, Leo.

I believe I could do it if I were in Mr. Obama’s shoes. I mean, I use email and IM to communicate with people with whom I cannot arrange a face-to-face or get a message to otherwise.

Now, if I had the resources of the President of the United States at my beck and call, personal assistants with telephones and computers and so on and so forth, I could probably do without.

I mean, you could just ask your assistant to pass on the message to so-and-so, and if so-and-so called or emailed you, your assistant would let you know.

Perhaps email and IM are like a (mostly free) personal assistant to the masses?

(If used properly, that is.)

-Brett

Mike Tieden Says:

November 17th, 2008, 23:26 pm

I’ve been experimenting with my email consumption recently. I try to check it only once a day (usually at night). I was once at the point where it was on my Blackberry and I would know the very second I had an email. I had it on for about a week before I went crazy. That is when I knew I needed to address the problem.

Now people understand that email is not the way to get in touch with me for urgent things. It’s mostly about setting limits for yourself and getting those you are in communication with to respect those limits.

People think that because they can respond to an email within five minutes they are being productive. They are sadly mistaken.

Pizzamancer Says:

November 17th, 2008, 23:29 pm

I just got back from a week in Singapore. It was a working vacation, but I stayed away from the internet, logging only 30 minutes in two sessions the whole week. Amazingly enough, the world did not implode, and nothing important was missed. Now I just have to figure out how to get rid of google reader, digg, and some forums I visit regularly and I will be set.

Eric Says:

November 17th, 2008, 23:34 pm

Email is a rough one for me. I am very bothered by it. Here is what I have done. I have no email Fridays. I don’t check it after 6 P.M. during the week. What really kills me is I have it on my iPhone. I wish I had a phone that did not have email on it. People expect the reply to be super fast!

With all of that said I am using text messages more and more for business. Short and to the point. I am having better luck with text than email with most people. Any ideas?

Mike Shea Says:

November 17th, 2008, 23:42 pm

I could give up email if I had three secretaries to check it for me, print them out, and hand them to me when I’m zipping across town in my motorcade.

I jest, of course.

I dream of the sort of info-cut-off lifestyle where I hide in a cave and write bad dark fantasy ala Robert Howard, but really, I’m a creature of the internets now. That is how I communicate with people. To me, Email isn’t a burden or something that controls my life. It’s just another way for me to connect with people.

Now life without Digg? That I can do.

John Says:

November 17th, 2008, 23:50 pm

I think this is sad. Obama was the first serious contender for the highest office who “got” the Internet. He had a podcast before he announced his candidacy for president. He personally made use of technology, such as his Blackberry, as did his campaign. His campaign released a cool iPhone app. I didn’t spend a whole lot of time on his campaign website since I wasn’t a supporter. But it looked and felt very nice. Very social network, web 2.0 like. He even has a transition team website, change.gov. But now it seems that come 1/20/09 he has to turn into a pumpkin, or at least a dinosaur.

There isn’t a CEO out there, well, maybe other than Warren Buffett, who would hand over his/her Blackberry or iPhone. Why should we ask the president to hand over his? Certainly someone could come up with a way to comply with open record laws and allow the president to be plugged in?

Patches Colfax Says:

November 17th, 2008, 23:52 pm

Giving up E-mail would be a giant hassle, even for a week. As time goes by I keep trying to encourage more and more of my standard bill-payer type people to correspond with me via e-mail. It’s at least partially worked with my insurance agent :)

Conversations take time…even the annoying text back and forth ones. E-mail not only is convenient for saving conversations for a more convenient time for either party, but also that there’s a record of the conversation. If I remember you told me about a great website 2 months after you brought it up, I can get that info again without having to bug you for it.

And if you had to rethink email, what would be a better communication tool/solution?

I honestly think e-mail would benefit from not being free…if people had to think about how many more e-mails they wanted to pay for this month…they’d be less inclined to toss so many of them around. It’d cut down on spam too ;)

John Says:

November 17th, 2008, 23:55 pm

Sorry, I was ranting so much about the idiocy of making the president go back to smoke signals I really didn’t answer the question.

I live in email. At work Outlook is always open and at work and home GMail is always open. No, I absolutely could not live without it. I would give up my cell phone and even face-to-face conversation first. I hate face-to-face. What might be convenient for the other person probably isn’t convenient for me. Email is on my time. I can take the time to craft my thoughts. I also have a permanent record of what was conversed.

Wearing Mascara Says:

November 17th, 2008, 23:58 pm

It would be SO difficult for me to give up my email. I have been thinking about trying it for 24 hours but right now, my education (school life) depends on it. Sometimes I feel like I have ADHD because of it though… I feel like it’s only doing more harm than good!

Sean Canton Says:

November 18th, 2008, 0:00 am

Yes, the leader of the free world cannot use email. What does freedom mean if you can’t even email? What other technology platform could you use to communicate besides email that the laws haven’t caught up to regulating yet?

I look forward to many exciting tweets from @barackobama…

D. Says:

November 18th, 2008, 0:09 am

I’ve attempted this before, and it nearly drove me out of my mind. But the funny thing is, I cannot actually remember the last time I SENT an email. On the other hand, however, I receive somewhere between 20-30 emails per day. Being highly active in my community and school, I periodically receive emails about upcoming events, meetings, and such. I cannot remember the last time I used Instant Messaging, and absolutely despise talking on the phone. I’d much rather talk to a person, face-to-face. Then, there’s Facebook. I’ve pretty much always got my Gmail and Facebook open in separate tabs, even while I’m doing homework, even if I don’t check them. Sort of as a reassurance, maybe? As I go to a reasonably large school (over 2000 students), it’s become increasingly hard to run into my friends every day, or even every month. Plus, there are those friends out of state, whom I like corresponding with occasionally, to find out how they’re doing and such. To me, it seems rather silly to send an email just asking how one is doing. And besides, it’s so much easier to share photos, events, announcements, and such on Facebook. But the one thing that’s impossible for me to give up would have to be my Google Reader. With this ADD, I’ll be researching something, then skimming through my RSS Feed every five minutes. My ISP isn’t the best around, so my internet was down one morning, and it’s become a ritual to take just one minute (never more than two) and skim through my emails. I sat on the edge of my seat the rest of the day. Rather sad, but technology has become so deeply integrated into our lives. If I had the choice, I’d limit the amount of noise coming in, but that’s hard to do when you’re always on the run such as myself. In fact, I should be looking into getting a blackberry, so as to not have to dump all of the load on myself at once…

Kevin Says:

November 18th, 2008, 0:12 am

Okay, several others have said this already, but from a practical standpoint I could probably give up e-mail for four (or eight, but it’s a little premature to talk about that) years if I had a staff to deal with my correspondence. Would I? Hell no. But that’s hardly the only lack of privacy that would make me not want to be President, or enter politics at all, so it’s a bit of a moot point.

It’s really not that hard for me to do it for a while if I’m doing something else. A few years ago I cycled across North America, and I didn’t bring a laptop, so over the course of a summer I checked my email maybe three or four times. I didn’t miss it, because I had other things on my mind (like biking four to ten hours a day), and the people I corresponded with all knew I wouldn’t be getting back to them any time soon anyway. But to be working, in an office, without being able to send and receive messages that didn’t go through someone else first… as I said earlier, it would be the lack of privacy that would get to me.

With that said, I don’t find e-mail particularly distracting or time-consuming when I’m working on the computer. If I have a project that requires my undivided attention, it’s easy for me to go a few hours without checking it, and ignore any sounds my phone makes that aren’t incoming calls (which I answer, because they might be right-now urgent).

Maura Says:

November 18th, 2008, 0:18 am

Guess I’m old enough that the thought of alternate means of communcation with friends and loved ones is no big deal. But for my job? Impossible and frankly, undesirable (though being untethered from my ball-and-chain laptop does sound appealing).

If I were Barack, I’d take up study in Egyptology and learn how to write in hieroglyphs. Just for something to do while sitting around the Oval Office on a lazy afternoon. You know, to fill all that free time he’ll have with no emails to read or write. :)

Let’s hope his sacrifice means the Secret Service can effectively do their job.

Trevor Says:

November 18th, 2008, 0:25 am

I can give it up for a few days but not years.

It’s too important to me. I don’t have some of my friend’s phone number so we contact with email.

JMO Says:

November 18th, 2008, 0:27 am

The more I think about it, the more I think I could go without e-mail.

Even at work, most of the real things that are discussed happen over the phone or in person. All e-mail has really replaced is paper mail. Any kind of bank statement or receipt or important documentation is sent to my gmail, as well as follow-ups.

One of the big problems with e-mail is it makes me very lazy in meetings, because I know that minutes will be sent out afterwards. Although, with proper document sharing, even then e-mail is not entirely useful. SMS and calendar reminders are really what give me pertinent information.

Matt Caldwell - 15 Minutes to Riches Says:

November 18th, 2008, 0:39 am

As social networks continue to evolve, I think the usefulness of email, at least in its current form, is slowly fading. Asynchronous forms of communication, such as email, are losing ground to real-time collaboration tools, such as instant messaging (notice how the most prominent social networks have been adopting IM?) and VoIP. There will always be a place for asynchrony in communication, but text messaging and social networks seem to fill that gap (think Facebook’s Wall tab). Sure, it’s the same concept, but it’s not email… it’s something more. Many organizations are beginning to recognize this, and are launching their own (or adopting somebody else’s) in-house social networks for their employees. Times are changing… but it’s not like President-elect Obama is going to be able to use any of this stuff anyway… :)

Di Says:

November 18th, 2008, 0:42 am

I would go though heavy withdrawal if I had to give up my email. It would not be pretty.

Nope, the more I think about it, I wouldn’t do it.

LifeMadeGreat | Juliet Says:

November 18th, 2008, 1:02 am

Hi

Well, I don’t check e-mail when I go away. That is why I am away! I also don’t believe in using a cellphone when I am away. I didn’t in the “old” days, so why now?
I don’t have a blackberry ’cause that is too hectic.

I’ve marvelled at facebook and the “status” function, well, not the function itself, but how much it is used. That a friend can say something such as “I’m waiting for McDonalds to arrive” baffles me. I wonder: Do they have nothing better to do? Is it an indication of loneliness? If so, it is a very sad world. Why not spend time with friends face-to-face?
When it’s friends, I reackon, spend time together in person - e-mail or no e-mail.

Having said all of this, in my part-time job, I definitely hide behind e-mail. In fact, that is something I am trying to change! My feedback is always to use the phone more. (I work mostly internationally, so face-to-face is not possible). This, for me, is an indication that a number of people prefer to actually SPEAK to someone.

But, thinking about that, why “hide” behind e-mail? Does that not too say something about our world? We are too afraid to actually interact too closely. We don’t trust or we fear or we feel threatened or dread.

Juliet

Devan Says:

November 18th, 2008, 1:08 am

Ack! Just thinking about giving up email is making me break out in a cold sweat! :)

Tom Says:

November 18th, 2008, 1:19 am

I’d be happy to give up email in exchange for 1800 people to manage all the things I do by email, IM, Google Calendar, etc.

For example, rather than have my daughter IM me when she gets home from school, her secret service agent would tell my secret service agent. Rather than emailing around to set up a meeting, I’d just ask one of my three personal secretaries, or perhaps someone from the Office of Staff Secretary, to set up a meeting. Rather than asking a travel agent or travel site to email my itinerary for my business trip, I’d ask the staff to fire up Air Force One.

Email, IM, etc, make it possible for me to do many things myself that in the past were done by secretaries and other support people, or that took a long time or several tries. The President lives in a different world. President-Elect Obama has a huge adjustment to make, and giving up the Blackberry is the least of it.

63 days from now he’ll be able to get anybody he needs on the phone immediately. Literally hundreds of people will be getting him whatever information he asks for. He will be much less efficient than I am, as an individual, but the expensive investment we make in helping him be effective is worth the cost. At least, it had better be.

tc>

Timothy Long Says:

November 18th, 2008, 1:24 am

The answer is entirely dependent upon how much you stand to lose by abstaining from it. Work-wise, I can afford to forget about my email for a day or two, as it is not crucial for me to respond to them immediately. Personal use of email is a different story.

What I’d be curious to know is how long I could survive without BB Messenger.

Miss Gisele B | myBeautyMatch.com Says:

November 18th, 2008, 1:30 am

I gave up email for 5 weeks when i was in Europe last year.

I only logged in to send emails so people could pick me up in different cities, but I didn’t check work related emails.

When I got back, I had a LOT of emails but most of them where newsletter subscriptions. As a results of that trip, I cleaned my newsletter and RSS feed subcritptions to keep the essentials.

I did the same with all the snail mail I receive that I never asked to receive.

So to answer you question, YES I could live withouth email. This is a rule for my vacations …when I’m in work mode … it’s different, but when I’m not in work mode … then emails is NOT a priority.

I think it’s sooooooooooo important to just shut it off once in while just for our own mental sanity.

Miss Gisele B.

Holly Says:

November 18th, 2008, 1:38 am

Email is about community, and community expectations. Being an academic without email would not be socially okay, so even if I deemed the phone a better alternative, I’d still have to have email. Giving it up for short periods of time is easy though.

I wish they would let President Obama have his email! Sheesh. Its 2008.

Leo Says:

November 18th, 2008, 2:06 am

It’s amazing. I think almost all of us can remember the days when we worked without email. Phones, faxes, snail mail, interoffice memos, and yes, face-to-face meetings were all the norm for communication.

Email seems indispensable these days. While face-to-face stuff is still great, there’s no doubt email works better than faxes, hard-copy memos, and letters … and oftentimes phones (though it depends).

But I wonder if there’s a better way? Maybe routing info and notification type emails to Twitter, and just check that to stay informed, maybe once a day? Phone calls could actually save me time, probably, for specific emails if they were limited to 5 minutes and all done one after another in one chunk of the day.

The problem comes when you have to write longer replies — things that take 5-15 minutes to answer. Or when you have to take some kind of action that takes longer than a minute, before replying. Need a good way to handle those.

Coral Says:

November 18th, 2008, 2:16 am

I could never give up email. I’m well and truly hooked. My husband just looks at me and shakes his head.

Alex Fayle | Someday Syndrome Says:

November 18th, 2008, 2:16 am

I live in Spain and my family lives in Ontario, Canada. I couldn’t give up email unless I wanted to lose touch with many important people in my life.

Plus I run my business via email, so I’d love my source of income.

That said, I often don’t look at email during one day on the weekend.

Pete Says:

November 18th, 2008, 2:28 am

Generally, email. has become both a great tool to facilitate communication and a great hindrance to communication. It is great because I can usually reach who I need to reach quickly and get the information I need. It is a hindrance becase everyone thinks their email should be a priority and receive immediate attention. It often facilitates tyranny: you have to respond to the email because of who it is, not the criticality of the message. For example, I am looking at 23 messages that are all coded high priority (little red thingies and such). 6 have to do with upcoming birthdays in the office, 4 are from my boss to everyone in the office about the Christmas party, the need to hold office supply costs down, a legislative update (I work in state govt), and a “forward to all” for the food bank drive, and all require a response. 5 of the emails are those d&@$* forwarded emails about kittens, kids in weird Halloween costumes, and pets in even weirder Halloween costumes. 3 of them are chain emails promising that if I send that particular email about angels, sick kids, or smiley faces to any number of “friends” (minimum of eight and a maximum equal to the population of China) I will get some kind of happy blessing or reward. The rest of them are emails one individual received and felt that everyone else should see how badly he is being treated.
I could give up emails in a minute and go back to telephone calling (using a rotary phone), writing a letter or a postcard, or if it really important, sending one of those extinct things called a telegram if it weren’t for job requirements. Last week I was in meetings and training and did not check the office email for three days. When I got back I had over 150 emails from people who wanted to know why I hadn’t answered their earlier emails, in spite of having an auto response saying I was out of the office for three days.
Hand written letters are still the most intimate and, at the same time, the most meaningful communication. My father died in 1985. One of the few things I still have from him are letters he wrote to me while I was in the Navy during Vietnam. To me, emails are just ghosts in a machine and represent little or no effort to reach out.
Just my two cents on the topic.

Ryan McLean Says:

November 18th, 2008, 3:06 am

If I became president I could. But why does the president have to give up email?

Tosz Says:

November 18th, 2008, 3:12 am

@John: There is, in fact, a way to comply with the open records laws and allow the president to stay plugged in. It’s called “honesty”. No deception = no need to worry about open records requests ;)

Yavor Says:

November 18th, 2008, 3:15 am

I gave up internet last year for a month or so. At least tried to. I canceled my home subscription. What happened is I ended up going to a local internet cafe almost every day to check my email. Even so, I would spend only 20-30 minutes there as opposed o being able to check email all the time.

Yavor

Martin Wildam Says:

November 18th, 2008, 4:29 am

Read quickly through the original article. I wonder how Obama could be productive when sticked all the time to the blackberry. E-Mail is a very helpful thing as a car is also or an airplane. But you also don’t use cars or airplanes all the time - only when necessary or really useful.

Everything can be exaggerated - so can EMail also.

I understand the security concerns regarding the blackberry, but this does not necessarily imply that he could not continue to email - e.g. from the office. Allowing text messages only and being very restrictive with attachments I think email itself is not a security issue itself.

Vincent Says:

November 18th, 2008, 4:38 am

I believe I can’t give up email Leo. Somehow it had become a lifestyle for me and as long as it doesn’t occupies a whole chunk of my life, I’m still okay with it.

Cheers
Vincent
Personal Development Blogger

Michael Kieweg Says:

November 18th, 2008, 4:45 am

Hello

There is an article in the recent german FAZ-Magazin, dealing with that “problem”.
Valentin Groebner, a historican at the universicity of Luzern, tried to live one month without email. He installed an autoresonse that said, that his account would not be read due to the experiment and that you should please send him your message via snailmail or call him on the phon.
In the end he had his inbox covered with ca. 500 mails (seems not that much) and only less than 10% of the senders hat tried to contact him via snailmail or phone.

Darren Alff Says:

November 18th, 2008, 4:58 am

I have given up email for as long as a month and a half and handled it just fine. I’ve done this when traveling by bicycle and on these trips I just didn’t have the luxury of checking my email all the time. To handle it, I just let people know that I would be out of touch and tried to get other people to cover for me while I was gone. I did lose one client from one of these trips, but it was a good thing in the long run.

Chris (from Lifestyle Project) Says:

November 18th, 2008, 5:40 am

I think that if I was as powerful as the president I could! I’d just have a team of assistants dealing with the deluge of communication!

I’d give up work email in a heartbeat, 90% of it is rubbish anyway. I have a filter that directs any emails I am copied on to a separate folder as most of the time I don’t even need to know about them.

I have noticed recently that people don’t even answer there phones as much now. I am making an effort to talk to people rather than hide behind emails and text messages.

I would love to give up email, there is a catch though…

Emails are a great way for the readers of my blog to keep in touch from all over the world, though as nothing the send is really private just twitter or some kind of open communication channel on the blog might be a nice way forward.

Jarrod - Warrior Development Says:

November 18th, 2008, 6:14 am

About 6 years ago the family went on a trip in a caravan, so no internet. More recently I did a week without email/internet during a martial arts seminar.

Both times the results were a more relaxed/less demanding lifestyle, simply because the number of interactions was reduced substantially. Didn’t get kept busy emailing and IM’ing.

Ross Says:

November 18th, 2008, 6:16 am

I still check most of my accounts several times a day… Now that you mention it though, It’d be great to ditch this… most checks are not necessary as daily or sixth hourly events - every couple days should suffice…. I think it’s easy to get caught up in ‘addiction to email!’ to be honest! I probably couldn’t go several years….

Dumitru Tira Says:

November 18th, 2008, 6:41 am

I’m a big quicksilver junkie and I constantly write quick emails using the mail.app plugin, often to my best friends, since text messages or phonecalls aren’t that cheap here in Portugal I tend to prefer email.

I think I couldn’t live without email although people lived without it for thousands of years… As long as it’s under control(see Merlin Mann’s Inbox Zero) I think it’s Okay.

cheers.

Jobi Says:

November 18th, 2008, 7:03 am

I can get an overview of new email on my home page and learning to not jump in until I schedule the time for it. Obama will have so many people watching over all aspects of his life, unlike most of the rest of us. It might be easier for him? Plus he is really going to be too busy!

Gustavo Braga Says:

November 18th, 2008, 7:12 am

I badly remember that I got one.

Incredible Jens Says:

November 18th, 2008, 7:13 am

Yes, I think I could give up email, but not communicating. I’ve actually done so recently, that I’ve cut down my communicting via e-mail to minimum during the weekends and now it’s spreading to my wor, too. I feel I still get more done and I’m refreshingly more contacted to the people.
And recently I’ve been thinking about this solution: http://incrediblejens.blogspot.com/2008/11/58th-social-connectivity.html to skip the individual communicating methods (chats, e-mails, Facebook etc.) and just communicate with people, no matter what the actual API is. Someone should make the app, though :D

Indigo Says:

November 18th, 2008, 7:50 am

Seems like I spend more and more time on the computer and less in the actual world so I have to say that I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately.

Television, the Internet, Email, IM conversations — they all draw me away from activities that I’m always trying to find time to do. And when I think about it, some of the best times I’ve had were when the power was off and I was completely disconnected.

Could I? I don’t know.
Have I? After we moved, we were without an internet connection. It was great. We related more as a family. Played games. Laughed. I got much more accomplished in a given day. It was awesome. Went back after it was connected though, so what does that say?
Better tool? Not for me. I live in a foreign country and I don’t speak the local language. If language weren’t an issue, I’d say direct, face to face communication is much better. More real. More honest.

magnoliasouth Says:

November 18th, 2008, 8:18 am

I could go for a week without email, but not four years. Is it overdone? Definitely. Most of my incoming email is either commercial spam or friendly spam (like “lol cats” friends). Very little of it is actual communication.

My father, who lives several states away, is on a seriously fixed income. He has cut corners in a variety of ways, such as ditching his landline phone, and email is my primary communication with him. Without email, I wouldn’t even be able to “talk” to my father so clearly I need to have it.

Rahul Says:

November 18th, 2008, 8:31 am

I gave up my BlackBerry for several months during this past summer and that cut back on my email usage. It was a great feeling! Then I started a new job which they gave me a BlackBerry and I was back to get, sending, and reading emails as early as 4:30am!

Garry Says:

November 18th, 2008, 8:35 am

Being a developer, I tend to use e-mail to monitor my systems. I also use it to keep in contact with my family and friends which is pretty dispersed around the UK, sending them photos etc. Having said that, I find it realy easy to ditch email when I am away on a break. I just replace e-mailing with phoning them instead. If I did ditch e-mail perhaps it would force me to do more verbal communication with family and friends. Also it would stop me from spamming myself with systems data.

Lee Ann/Living Introverted Says:

November 18th, 2008, 8:39 am

Could I completely give up email? No - for three reasons: First, I communicate on a regular basis with people from around the globe, so phone calls can be inconvenient (time differences). Second, as an introvert, there are times when it’s just the preferred method of communication based on my personality style (phones can be obtrusive). And third, I am trying to go paperless as much as possible.

Have I gone without email for any span of time? Yes, when I’m on vacation I do not check email. I just don’t. On weekends I might check it once each day. When working, I try to deal with email twice a day - at the beginning of my work day, and again at the end.

There are times when direct face to face communication, a phone call, or a handwritten note or letter is a much better way to go. It all depends on a number of factors.

Arun Says:

November 18th, 2008, 8:47 am

It was last one whole month when I refrained from reaching my inbox.

Obviously, the productivity was good. The focus on my work was excellent. I really loved the way it was.

But when compared with microblogging tools like twitter and identi.ca, which causes information bombarding, emails doesn’t destroy our focus completely. Anyway, both of them are completely not intended to be used during work, and I am well satisfied with the way it is now. In fact, I am very happy that I don’t check my twitter or identi.ca.

To spoil your day, start it with twitter. Your mind will keep wandering at least for 30 mins after checking it out. :-)

Danu Says:

November 18th, 2008, 9:10 am

One time, during my college years I was working in a rural area, no phone, no electricity, no signal. I had to travel to the nearest town just to make a phone call. It’s suck but doable. How? Well, just rely on whatever you’ve got (snail-mail, fax and landline phone, even courier). However returning to the city, it changes my view towards the technology, it’s made to simplify our life, not make it more complicated than it is. Therefore now, 10 years later my view is still the same, if I have to give up my e-mail, or even my computer it won’t disturb a large part of my life (well, maybe initially, but not eventually~ my prediction is two weeks)

Danny Says:

November 18th, 2008, 9:14 am

Been there, done that. I call it vacation. Two weeks in a row. But I’m eager to login at the end.

I’m growing out of Facebook. I lost interest.
I don’t want anything from twitter kind.
My computer is a tool, not my life. But I prefer email over phone to just say Hi! How are you! But I prefer Café over email for the same thing.

Neil Says:

November 18th, 2008, 9:50 am

I don’t think I could give up email in my present situation. Most of my close friends are all long distance by phone and approximately an hour by car away. Email allows me to keep in touch with them quickly and free.

I imagine the position of President of the U.S. is a lonely one. The demands on your time are huge. All the information you need to make decisions are provided to you by your staff and as one poster mentioned ifyou need someone you simply call them or have your assistant email them for you.

Fit Bottomed Girl Says:

November 18th, 2008, 9:57 am

Giving up email and texting would be so hard, but I think it would give you more time in your life…and more social interaction. So although it would be hard, it would have it’s positive effects, too.

Michael Kieweg Says:

November 18th, 2008, 10:28 am

I would never, as far, as I can say now, stop using Email. It’s my favourite form of communication - besides personal meetings.
No ringing bells, no other disturbance, if you have congigured your mailprogramm correctly.Spamfilters help me keeping the garbage away and other filters make most of the sorting for me.
That doesn’t mean, that I’m always online checking my mails every few minutes.
There are often days, weekends or complete weeks without Emails, when I’m at archery tournaments or medieval fairs or something like that. In such cases, I use an autoresponder to tell people when they can reach me again.
I have no Mailaccount for my mobile phone and public WiFi-Access isn’t that common in my part of Germany.
So I’m forced to be rather disciplined with my mails.
On normal working days, I check them once early in the morning round 06.00 and a second time in the evening round 20.00.

Adele - Yoga Babe Cafe Says:

November 18th, 2008, 10:45 am

I would hate to give up email. It is an incredibly useful tool. But I don’t give up snail mail or any other way of communicating. Each has its own purpose. I live them all. And as some one else said, Obama isn’t really giving up email, he’s just getting someone else to read it for him.

Kelly Says:

November 18th, 2008, 10:52 am

I check my personal email 2-3 times a week
I check Twitter maybe 1x a week
I check Facebook maybe once every other week.

I would love to give up all email. I do like to “google” for info I need to know or places I need to go.

Most of all I would love to give up my cell phone - I am a recovering gadget freak. Cell phones are my “hot button” - I always want the latest and greatest. If my cell phone wasn’t my only phone I would give it up in a second.

PeaceCat Says:

November 18th, 2008, 11:03 am

Hi Leo,

You say: “I’d love to hear a better alternative to email”

How about voice over IP (which people can call from a telephone), though not something that could replace email, but could definitely provide an alternate medium.
I can think of a couple of advantages:

1) People can only bug you when you are actually in your office (or mobile office), available to answer the call and ready to speak to them.

2) You can have a live discussion about something rather than having to read one sided info.

3) Only one person can communicate with you at a time (unless you have an open conference).

Here’s a thought, you could put a number on your site and say “If you want to discuss a business idea or potential collaboration, please call me between the hours of X & Y on this number”

The upside is that only people with serious inquiries would be likely to call, the downside is the possiblity of inviting sales/marketing/scammer calls.

pril Says:

November 18th, 2008, 11:44 am

well i could go with out e-mail for personal for well i don’t really use it much!
but for work it’s best to e-mail package out to ae’s and other memebers of the staff. due to the creative side it’s best for me to create the document based on their client needs then e-mail them back. forms and documents.. to much paper stacked up on others desk so e-mail at work is the way to go!
for sharing documents mainly!

Vitaly Pimenov Says:

November 18th, 2008, 11:55 am

Interesting.

Giving up email? Easily. It just a tool. The point is, I think, if do not need communication, you do not need a tool.

I personally suppose, I can cancel out communication, of course it is a change in the lifestyle, but it is possible.

Thinking about replacement, I can suggest following:

Voice/Image/Holography-based tools can replace mail in future. The things necessary are search, history, recognition and conversion between media formats and text.

Time will show if I was right

LifeMadeGreat | Juliet Says:

November 18th, 2008, 11:56 am

Hey again

Question is, what were we spending the time on before? If it was the faxing, phoning etc. then it’s just a replacement. If it was “other stuff” what are we now missing out on, or what have we now gained?

Cheers
Juliet

Everlasting Designs Says:

November 18th, 2008, 12:05 pm

Give up email - never!

I find it hard to keep from being addictive but the other option is answering the phone. Time-drainers lurk on the phone…telemarketers, sales calls, friends who don’t take a hint well (yawn, Boy am I tired…), co-workers who don’t get to the point.

I’d much rather hit delete and move on that try to dodge the evils that await with other forms of communication. Keeping organized and disciplined is another matter.

melissa Says:

November 18th, 2008, 12:07 pm

I couldn’t do it. Not at work or at home. Do I spend my whole day checking my email to the detriment of everything else? no. but it has made it possible to easliy communicate business needs and keep in touch with family and friends. Why go without?

But did anyone read the NY Times article? And we wonder why George W said silly things like “the internets” and “the google”. He wasn’t allowed to access it. So much of the world is communicating and getting information via the web and Obama can only hope that he gets to be the first President with a lap top in the oval office. Ridiculous.

piankeshaw Says:

November 18th, 2008, 12:14 pm

Being the same age as Barack Obama I can have a similar perspective. We grew up WITHOUT e-mail.

There are a lot of pitfalls of e-mail. You don’t see the emotions behind the words. You don’t see the traces of honesty or dishonesty. Sure it’s fast and efficient, but it doesn’t make for good, lasting relationships.

What if international diplomacy was done over e-mail? Wouldn’t work.

Yeah, he will get along just fine without it!!!

heather Says:

November 18th, 2008, 12:18 pm

Anyone who has gone on vacation without a computer for a week knows that it doesn’t take much to unplug and that once you do, it’s amazing. The withdrawal doesn’t last as long as you think (although when you’re on vacation, you know you’ll have access again in a few days, so obviously the comparison is flawed).

I still think any one of us can do it, especially if there is a much larger motivating factor (like being the LEADER OF THE FREE WORLD.)

If your sole driving purpose in life for two (or more) years was to become president, I seriously doubt having to unplug would be a “dealbreaker.”

John Says:

November 18th, 2008, 12:19 pm

I believe I could give up email. The question for my situation is “Could everyone else who communicates with me at home and work give it up?” I bet I wouldn’t even hear from some people…not such a bad idea ; )

Jean Gogolin Says:

November 18th, 2008, 12:20 pm

Wow - what a string of comments! I read that piece about Obama and though “Yikes.”

In addition to running a business, I live in the boonies and am caregiver for a husband who has a chronic illness, so emails to clients, friends and my kids are my links to the world. I can hardly imagine life without it and wouldn’t want to try.

Conor Says:

November 18th, 2008, 12:21 pm

I often go weeks without checking emails, that’s called vacation time :) I have to admit though, the inbox I am greeted with upon my return creates one or two more strands of grey hair each time.

Instead of “giving up”, why not “re-introduce” a more old fashioned (dare I say) method of communication. Write a letter to someone who haven’t talked to in a while, use a pencil and an eraser to write it. I can’t remember the last time I did that.

Also, it’s imperative to make sure your social life isn’t dominated by online communication. Face-to-face is a must in relationships, business, personal and everything in between. How else can you use your sarcastic wit to it’s greatest effect? :)

So instead of the headaches of weening ourselves off something that is of huge benefit to our lives, why not lean to the other side, and re-introduce the letter :)

Just my two cents.

Shevonne Says:

November 18th, 2008, 12:26 pm

I don’t think I could give it up for five minutes.

EscapeVelocity Says:

November 18th, 2008, 12:28 pm

I lived without email for almost 21 years. It was way easier when nobody else had it :). I miss letters, actually. I did a couple long-distance relationships with letters, quaint as it seems now.

I can go several days at a time when I’m on vacation (which makes a great deal of email irrelevant–I’m not going to be at the meeting Tuesday so I don’t care where it is).

Ki Says:

November 18th, 2008, 12:31 pm

Good golly–it’s my fondest dream to move email to the emergency or work realm and get back to good old snail mail for all the personal letters and relationships.

Wanna know why? Because there is nothing in the world quite as cool as getting a real letter in the mail.

Probably not going to happen, so I bow to the whim of progress. I do like the fact that emails can be nice and short and still be a connection.

Tess Marshall Says:

November 18th, 2008, 12:34 pm

I just went out of state for a week and never checked email. My world didn’t fall apart.

Just send an email out saying you’ll be out of the office and will respond to all when you return.

It’s irrational thinking to believe you can’t do without it for a week of vacation or whatever.

We are a high tech low touch society. Relationships developed on line are great however they certainly aren’t a substitute for real face-to-face relationships.

Rene Says:

November 18th, 2008, 12:36 pm

No I don’t think I can give up email, but on the weekend when I’m with my family, I don’t even check the internet and I can live with that.

Michelle Says:

November 18th, 2008, 12:39 pm

This last summer, I realized how dependant on my blackberry I was! We had gone out to the ocean were there is no signal no matter how high in the air you hold it, no matter which leg you hold up or how you hold your lips. (figure of speech.) the first couple of days Id have to say was difficult, because I am so used to using it. I found myself checking it even though conciously I knew it didnt have signal.Not having It forced me to see around me even better. And actually through that process and some others, brought me here. What a great learning experience.

Michael S Says:

November 18th, 2008, 12:40 pm

Give up email???? Never! How would I send letters to people? Post office? I don’t think so!

Katrina Says:

November 18th, 2008, 12:43 pm

Absolutely not. While I may not use email for personal communication and generally do not right now as it is, I prefer the paperless billing feature most of my utilities offer. I do not own a blackberry and have no plans to do so, but email is a convenience that I would be unwilling to part with unless another option was presented to me to keep bills paperless without email…

Christa Says:

November 18th, 2008, 12:45 pm

Giving up e-mail does require re-thinking how we communicate, but for me it really does not matter.
When we were without Internet for several years, we wrote more letters, and talked on the phone a bit more, for instant written communications, we used the fax machine.
I find that many of the thing e-mail are not really worth communicating, and when it costs us something to send it, as in using snail mail, we send better content.

tingmo barker Says:

November 18th, 2008, 12:46 pm

I can’t imagine giving up email unless there is no other option left.

Chris | Healthy Gaming Says:

November 18th, 2008, 12:49 pm

I can barely go one day without checking my email, even if it is from my cell phone.

I’m pretty sure I would call it an addiction :)

My plan is to eventually only check it once a day, in the morning, and keep it short and sweet. Not sure when i’ll switch though…

Dusty Says:

November 18th, 2008, 12:53 pm

Yes…it would cause me to have to make more phone calls and talk to more people face to face - take more time to do some simple things as well. I don’t have a blackberry and being one that does not have one I see the others that do and find that they are often interrupted by them, drop everything when they get a message, etc. etc…seems bothersome and annoying.

Now if I had to give it up because I was going to be the president that would be totally simple, necessary and understandable.

Naitasia Says:

November 18th, 2008, 12:54 pm

24 hours would be tha max amount of time I could give up email. And to do that, I would have to be locked away without any e-reception anywhere. If I had to be disciplined about it and resist email, IM, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Loopt, etc I doubt I would be able to. There have been times where I may not get on a computer all day (like on a Saturday), but I get all those things on my phone so it really isn’t a sacrifice. I have noticed that when I have been disconnected from those apps, it hasn’t been that bad. But to think about the possibility of doing it is painful.

Daniel Says:

November 18th, 2008, 13:10 pm

Honestly, I would give up my phone before I give up my email. Having a way for people to contact me when they want gives me no real control and is distracting. But email you can regulate things easier.

Christine Says:

November 18th, 2008, 13:13 pm

No email and texting would be a huge challenge, I’d adapt if needed and I had staff to do it for me. But communicating with friends and family in different time zones would be tough.

The longest I went without email was 5 days while on a cruise and playing catchup was not fun.

I could see a more advanced, secure form of texting replace email that includes speech-to-text, like Jott.

Marcus Says:

November 18th, 2008, 13:14 pm

Hi,
I would love to reduce my emails, especially in the office. I have reduced the time I spent over email by only looking at Outlook 3 times a day. I filter out all emails I am on “cc” only using a rule.

I had heard of a company in the UK a few years ago where they have taken out email of the internal business completely and productivity had increased during this period and I would love to hear more of this project …. I just have the feeling that this is not working in favor of the paperless office …..
I get many approvals and feedback by email that otherwise I would have to file on paper. All my tasks are managed through email.

In general I agree, far too many emails and I personally find it much nicer to receive a hand written note through my letterbox.
cheers
M.

Karen Says:

November 18th, 2008, 13:45 pm

I would be lost without my email, yet at the same time I think it would be extremely liberating to get rid of it for 4 years.

Maria Says:

November 18th, 2008, 13:49 pm

This approach - giving up emails - seems anti-technology to me. Sure there are dangers of technology “taking over” as it were, however, I think that fear of technology only serves to hold us back rather than propel us forward. We live in a new age, an email, blackberry, iPhone age, and there’s no sense in getting romantic about handwritten letters and dial phones, which had their own limitations.

I think the more important question is: how is Obama’s presidency going to change the office of the president in terms of technology? Perhaps, if “paper work” were emailed and archived electronically, would bureaucracy speed up and we’d get more things done?

Eventually, things are going to have to change, because there’s going to be one of us, the “net generation” in office. Once you grow up using email as a primary source of communication, it will be very difficult to give it up. It’s sort of like giving up a modern stove (gas or electric) and asking someone to bake their bread in a stone oven.

Keith Says:

November 18th, 2008, 13:52 pm

I would find it very difficult to give up e-mail. IM is much more of a time waster. Generally I check it first thing in the morning and after returning in the evening, but try to limit checking when in the office. Far from being a shield, I see it as more of a time shifter as it allows my clients and I to communicate without either bothering me as I work or resorting to telephone tag. I also use it to avoid snail mail and printing/materials costs, sending my proposals as PDFs.

In Mr. Obama’s situation it is more a case of security and discretion. I would bet they will not be able to deny him all forms of electronic text communication. Though not advantageous to use, it’s too ingrained.

Hey, remember the claim that John McCain couldn’t use e-mail. Hah, Barak can’t either now. Didn’t turn out to be much of a disqualifier.

tk_83 Says:

November 18th, 2008, 13:59 pm

How about giving up FaceBook/ MySpace/ Twitter, etc, along with e-mail?

I’m 25 and all but cut off from most of my friends because they won’t use e-mail anymore. They only communicate through the above and SMS messages on their phones. I’ve long held out on getting into social networks and expect to keep fighting (nothing inheritally wrong them, just not my cup of tea)

Its a sad day when a software engineer feels behind the times technologically! =)

Mitchell Dominguez Says:

November 18th, 2008, 14:03 pm

Lemme see here, give up e-mail for various lengths of time?
Are you koo-koo in the head? Absolutely not, No Way Jose! Won’t even discuss it.

Jerry J. Davis Says:

November 18th, 2008, 14:10 pm

I just spent three weeks without my iPhone. It drove me nuts. So I’d have to say, no, I can’t live without it, and I’d also have to say that, if I were elected President, I would still use email, and if someone told me I couldn’t I’d say, “Excuse me, who’s President here? Huh? Huh? Me, right? Shut up and go stand in the corner until you say you’re sorry.”

Andreea Says:

November 18th, 2008, 14:37 pm

Hey there,
When I graduated from University I went for a two weeks trip and I had to give up email for a while. First two or three days were pretty hard, I was afraid or should I say paranoid that something might happen and I’ll be the last to know. But after these days, I discovered it to be awesome. I experienced sort of a freedom that was good for me. Eventually, I got back and started it all over again. What can I say… it was great, while it lasted :)

Gerard Weijers Says:

November 18th, 2008, 14:43 pm

Well, what ever the outcome, the question is good for response. Personally, communicating with four sales people that cross the globe, I would not want to have one day without. However, I started to be very picky on what to discuss by mail and what not. I decided: inform about progress and finetune actions but only on things you have already agreed upon. E-mail is to limited to allow anything else. And my tip of the day: create an inbox just for cc. Clean it once a day and take the info for what it is: info. No action on it, because thats when you would have been directly adressed.

Marisa Says:

November 18th, 2008, 15:28 pm

I use checking email as a way to break up my day, by checking it no more than 3 times per day. I have set times when I’ll check my email (in the morning, at lunch and in the afternoon/early evening), that way I’m either excited to see if I’ve gotten, say, an email from my mom, or at least it gives me a chance to take a breather from work.

I also don’t check my email once I’m away from work or before I go to work, unless I’m specifically expecting an email from someone or need to send one.

Rich Gould Says: