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Less-is-more Blog by Pierre Khawand

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5 symptoms of e-mail addiction! Which ones are yours?

Posted by Pierre Khawand on Wed, May 18, 2011 @ 07:55 AM
  
  
  
  
Add to delicious  delicious  
  

Internet Addiction SmallA while ago, I wrote about the 9 reasons why e-mail is seductive, addictive, rewarding, and anxiety-provoking all at the same time. If you didn't get a chance to identify your top 3, it is never late to do so!

If you are still not sure whether you have an e-mail addition, here are a few symptoms to look for:

  1. You catch yourself pressing the refresh button repeatedly, and for no reason! Hoping to get yet another new e-mail that satisfies your addiction.
  2. You get out of the door and immediately get out your iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, or whatever mobile device you have, and check e-mail right away. Even though you just checked e-mail before you left your desk.
  3. You're driving and you stop at the intersection or light (or even worse, while driving 70 miles per hour on the highway), you reach to your mobile device and check e-mail (even though you just checked it a few seconds ago).
  4. Your spouse, child, friend, or even boss is talking to you, and you lift your head (which was buried in your mobile device)  and look at them with this absent-minded look, as if you or they were from a different planet, and then ask them "what did you just say?" And this happens again shortly after.
  5. You send an e-mail to your colleague or manager or staff member, and then call and ask if they got it! You absolutely want to make sure your e-mail got there and didn’t' get hijacked along the way!

What are your e-mail addiction stories?

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Comments

My biggest signal is that I never got a smart phone precisely to avoid what you are describing. At home, the refresh button still has magic powers. I resort to using the software called "freedom" to block access to the internet.
Posted @ Wednesday, May 18, 2011 9:14 AM by Niels
An even more interesting sympton is the person speaking in front of a group he hopes to persuade who checks his crackberry as he is presenting! I saw it. I couldn't believe it but it did happen at a recent meeting I attended.
Posted @ Wednesday, May 18, 2011 11:39 AM by Al
Out for dinner, under the table while my husband reads EVERY item on the menu.
Posted @ Thursday, May 19, 2011 9:54 AM by Monie
Constantly refreshing when I telecommute just to make sure no one thinks I'm not working.
Posted @ Thursday, May 19, 2011 10:12 AM by Christy
Some of those not at all. While driving only briefly as I really don't want to get into an accident. It's always one of those critical emails that you're waiting and waiting for feedback and hit the refresh button after leaving work, in the grocery store or while talking with someone else that you don't need to concentrate on the conversation to understand what's been said.
Posted @ Thursday, May 19, 2011 11:03 AM by Jessica
I must say, this article is surely and eye-opener. I surely think I have an addiction and I'm shamed to say...I have checked my iPhone while driving on the freeway! Absolutely no common sense at all. Thanks for raising this awareness.
Posted @ Thursday, May 19, 2011 12:26 PM by Fawn Davis
Guilty on all accounts except #5. And to answer the question of my book title, clearly it's the iPhone, I never had my computer beg to go with me on walks, to restaurants or into the bathroom. It's the phone, in fact, I'd say it's addicted to me!!
Posted @ Thursday, May 19, 2011 2:00 PM by Fresh
I've found my iPhone in my bed in the morning. I was listening to music? The rest of these do not apply to me. I do check toooo frequently for my taste, however, and am trying to get "over" that.
Posted @ Monday, May 23, 2011 10:59 AM by Nancy
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