Why is email so addictive?

And tips for decluttering your inbox

♡

Hi there,

Did you know the first email was sent in 1971?

Five things to share:

1. The average full time worker in America receives 120 messages per day and spends around 2.6 hours reading and answering emails. On average, professionals check their email 15 times per day— or every 37 minutes. What causes such compulsive email habit, and most importantly, what can one do about it? Read my five tips for reducing inbox clutter for a healthier co-existence with email.

2. By now, we all know the world is full of too many distractions and the ability to stay focused on what is important is a rarity. In the age of the attention economy, how do we get the best from technology without letting it get the best of us? Nir Eyal proposes some ideas in his book Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life.

3. Nir Eyal: What makes technology so habit-forming? is one of the best videos on the topic.

4. A quote I want to share with you:

   Choose being kind over being right, and you’ll be right every time.
   — Richard Carlson

   An especially good reminder for when engaging with people online.

5. Variable Rewards: Want To Hook Users? Drive Them Crazy.

   Variable rewards are a powerful inducement to creating compulsions. Today, technology companies are creating new habits by continuously cycling users through the Hook Model, and variable rewards fuel the chain reaction. Understanding what moves us to action allows us to build products that are aligned with users’ interests and gain greater control of our own technology-induced behaviors.

That’s all for this week!

Thank you for reading, and please share with anyone you think may benefit.

time spent offline is now a monthly analog publication you can get delivered straight to your mailbox with 20 ideas every month.

Until next time,

Mehret