17 ms·

Stop Checking Email So Often (2015)

222 points by colinprince 10y ago

jimmaswell 10y ago
I just look at my notifications when I pick up my phone to check what new emails came in, if it's important I'll either reply to it there or if I need to reply later with something I need a PC for I'll leave the notification up so I remember later. I don't have any issue with this and it seems pretty much perfect to me. I don't get the problem.
cagrimmett 10y ago
My method to stop compulsively checking messages yet still be responsive to my clients' support emails was to institute the Pomodoro Method (25 minutes on a task, 5 minutes off, repeat for the whole work day). I close off all communication (Slack, email, Skype, etc) for the 25 on-task minutes and only check them during the 5 minute breaks. If something urgent comes up, I dedicate my next 25-minute task period to dealing with that item. This has broken me of my involuntary email/Slack/IM checking and instead keeps me focused on the task at hand.
- TheOneTrueKyle 10y ago
  But shouldn't you be using that 5 minutes for relaxing instead of diving back into stress. Maybe an extended pomodoro session with an extra 3-5 minutes for team communication?
  - cagrimmett 10y ago
    I've been mostly fine with my method because every 4 Pomodoro I take a long 30 minute break. Also, not every 5 minute sessions results in messages I need to read and respond to, so those are essentially breaks.
  - nkozyra 10y ago
    Getting stuff done is remarkably soothing. I know that sounds kind of sad, but escaping the distractions and actually doing something is such a difficult task with the constant barrage of communication that I truly value it. It gives respite.
  - dood 10y ago
    "A change is as good as a rest"
- bogomipz 10y ago
  >"My method to stop compulsively checking messages yet still be responsive to my clients' support emails was to institute the Pomodoro Method (25 minutes on a task, 5 minutes off, repeat for the whole work day)." This actually sounds very compulsive to me. I know everyone is different but for me to have an unwavering 30 minute cycle day in day out would drive me crazy.
drops 10y ago
Nowadays there's not much reason to actually check the email manually because of all the mail-checking browser extensions. This of course brings up another problem: getting the emails as they arrive can be as distracting as constant stream of notifications from messengers and team chats like Slack.
liquidise 10y ago
I don't mean to hijack the focus from email specifically, but i find slack suffers from the same, if not worse, issue. Without exception, the most productive days i have had since my team adopted slack are the days when i forget to open it in the mornings, and achieve hours of uninterrupted work. All of these conversations, be it open-office/email/slack/etc are a rehashing of something we all know: fewer distractions leads to increased productivity. The trick is to balance that with collaboration and help channels, so the product and collective productivity of a team is improved, not just an individual's.
- the_watcher 10y ago
  I find Slack less distracting than email, simply because I spend far more time thinking about how to phrase my replies over email, while Slack is more conversational. That said, I've started limiting how often I check either, and have found that it helps with my workplace stress levels, as well as productivity.
- toomuchtodo 10y ago
  Could not agree more. Ive disabled Slack notifications on my phone entirely (and much prefer email over Slack; Slack creates an unnecessary sense of urgency). Unless the shop is burning down, nothing needs my attention immediately. If it does, call my cell. Some things deserve purposeful friction.
- codebeaker 10y ago
  I thoroughly recommend Cal Newport's book "Deep Work" if you want to understand the drivers of this effect, and help make constructive arguments in favour of a less connected workplace. (replied to the top thread, but it's applicable to everyone in this sub-threaD)
- giancarlostoro 10y ago
  I try to use it when convenient such as sharing URLs or files, but we have an open office setup at my job, so it's easier to just talk to one another.
- bogomipz 10y ago
v64 10y ago
When my manager stops freaking out when an email goes unanswered for 10 minutes (or I get a new job), then I'll stop checking my email so often.
- harryh 10y ago
  Your manager isn't a god. (S)he's just your boss. Tell them that you check email once an hour (or whatever interval you prefer) and respond to everything in batches. You find that allows you to better focus on your core work and that you're overall more productive that way. If (s)he asks you to change your routine just say no. Try it. It's very empowering.
  - v64 10y ago
    Some of my team have fought this battle and lost. If you don't respond, you get a tap on the shoulder which is even more distracting. Unfortunately, the number of people who find this annoying are in the minority, so it is what it is. If it's the worst thing I have to deal with at work, I'll live.
    - jsmeaton 10y ago
      I'd prefer the manager getting up and tapping me on the shoulder even if that is more distracting. Then at whatever review you might have (or not) say that constant interruptions have a negative affect on the work you do. Your manager sounds like a bad one.
      - v64 10y ago
        I don't want to heap the blame entirely on him. Other people I work with also hold the opinion that emails should be responded to as soon as possible, so he has support. It's all relative, and they certainly pay me well enough for the trouble.
      - adamconroy 10y ago
        Yes, its generally much faster to have a quick conversation rather than reply to an email.
makecheck 10y ago
It might be neat to apply machine learning to something like incoming messages (whether E-mail or text or otherwise), to automatically determine the real importance of a communication based on how you classify other messages. After awhile, it should be possible to achieve minimal interruption, based on what you consider worthy of an interruption. I know that I don’t like simple solutions like marking E-mail as “important”. In my experience, some people will always mark their stuff as “important” and their definition is not my definition.
- true_religion 10y ago
  Why not get an admin assistant instead?
- OJFord 10y ago
  I think Thoughtbot did something like this with 'FOMObot' - analysing whether you're likely to be interested in current conversation in a channel, rather than always being altered to the channel's activity. Iirc it's open source on Github, I heard about it on 'the bike shed' podcast. (Which I'd recommend, for whatever it's worth.)
- ergl 10y ago
  Spark already does this. It classifies emails into "personal", "newsletters" and a few others — it will only notify you of personal emails.
  - NAHWheatCracker 10y ago
    My understanding of what makecheck is talking about is a more personalized sort of classification, though. I haven't used Spark, but it seems from what I see that this aspect of the product just classifies a few generic types of emails that everyone receives. However; I don't think Spark learns to classifies emails that only I receive. Like I always instantly delete emails from Debby in marketing about upcoming customer engagement sessions. If you could create your own category, and add new emails to that category and once you have a statistically relevant number, ML could start classifying that stuff. On the other hand, who needs ML when you can just set up a filter to automatically delete emails from Debby with the word "Customer Engagement" in the title.
jayajay 10y ago
If you are checking a feed like email, or chat, you are expecting a new item. If you fail to get a new item 9/10 times you check the feed, it certainly makes sense that you may feel stressed or feel like you have less control over things. You can't control when the items come into your feed. 9/10 times, you are hyping yourself up to expect something, and then getting disappointed when it's not there. I think this kind of result is true for anything that requires waiting for something out of your control. The train, the doctor's office, replies to your comment, etc.
- j-c-h-e-n-g 10y ago
  Here's the solution I follow for the problem(s) you point out: https://www.google.com/search?q=circle+of+concern&espv=2&biw=1018&source=lnms&tbm=isch https://www.google.com/search?q=circle+of+concern&espv=2&biw...
  - jayajay 10y ago
    Interesting, and introspective. I think I now remember doing this in 2nd grade. We don't wanna forget about the things in the circle of concern, but we don't want to dwell on them unless we can actively influence them. If one is keen to dwell on something in the circle of concern, they should make an effort to move it into the circle of control.
edgarvaldes 10y ago
I check my email once an hour. I hate the feeling of imminent distraction, so I close the email client and open it again one hour later.
spraak 10y ago
s/Email/HN/g for me
6stringmerc 10y ago
For a while Xobni was elite at being able to see metrics and dashboard like stats for email communications. Not sure about the Infinity Version though...
unicornporn 10y ago
Seriously. In this day in age, is email really the big threat? Email feels like bliss to me, compared to the constant bombardment of information via different instant messaging channels. Riot, Signal, Telegram, Wire and WhatsApp ― yes, they're all installed on my phone and they are constantly polling for my attention by blinking that notification led on my Android phone. Yuk.
- JohnJamesRambo 10y ago
  Uninstall them?
- overcast 10y ago
  Seriously, remove those apps. For the few apps I keep on my iPhone, THEY ALL have notifications DISABLED. No longer pestered by them, taunting me to log in again and look.
- stronglikedan 10y ago
  Hear hear. Email if it's not important. Call if it's important - but it better be important, and not a "quick question" or "I just emailed you something...".
- swah 10y ago
  Never heard of Riot, will try! Thanks!
acbabis 10y ago
When I saw this in the HN feed, my first thought was "I should see if I got that email"
bborud 10y ago
I have no problems not checking my email. Email has become the dumping ground for emphemera. Clingy bullshit from companies you have bought stuff from, people who whine, automated emails from so many different places despite adding new filters every week. Want my attention? A handwritten note is actually the best way nowadays. Because I only check my work email once or twice per day, and I only check my personal email every two days or so.
- csydas 10y ago
  For the external sources, there is of course not much you can do (except a filter for "unsubscribe" to catch most spam/newsletter emails), but for work email and chat, having a strong established culture on what is expected can go a very long way. When I was managing a support arm for a university, I was happy to make myself available as often as necessary for my employees, but this had the predictable problem of getting phone calls at 11 pm or later about something as trivial as "the main printer in the Library is jammed". My predecessor had over-reacted out of fear of inconveniences like this and the result was that important problems, like entire dorm outages or critical systems going down weren't reported after business hours. I ended up establishing a simple and illustrative set of guidelines on appropriate communication methods and assessing the severity of an issue; maybe it's just because no one had taken the time to do it before, but as soon as the guidelines were distributed, almost instantly the level of communication fell in line with expectations - our evening student workers hit about the exact right level of communication for off-hour issues, and our business hour workers knew the exact right way to process new issues that arose. In my currently workplace, we have a brevity rule in place when it comes to communications be it in our chat or email. Spamming messages is discouraged and comes with some reprimand if it's a repeated offense, from the beginning, it is hammered into people's minds what other resources are available for reference before going to chat or email for assistance, and so on. Our frontline support works across the hall from R&D, and both teams will work in tandem when required for certain issues. iIt's pretty important to make sure we have the right balance of accessibility for resolution of new bugs and respect for everyone's time (higher tier support, R&D, etc). Compared to my very first job out of university, these two standards for communication were far better, and I think it left many people much happier. Having a grounded stance on communication expectations for your workplace can do a lot to ease the torrent of emails and messages; there will always be people who are exceptions, and will spam messages or email or phone calls for whatever whim they have, but you can't really plan for such types; the rest will fall in line if there is a clear expectation of best means to communicate. This doesn't have to be set in stone or put harshly, just clearly stated as "I'm happy to help - here is what I really can help with, for other things, you probably want to find X, and you can best get my attention by doing Y. Problems [P-S] get my attention quickly, other things may be responded to in T minutes." It doesn't have to be that formal, but if your time has to be that micromanaged, then something like this helps. Most people really are worried about interrupting and interfering, but there aren't always clear visions of what is and isn't bugging someone. Just getting it out there clear for people goes a long ways to reduce work stress.
combatentropy 10y ago
Email is a social activity. It's not the greatest social activity, but it is more social than programming. I find myself drawn to it partly for this reason. I don't know exactly what to do with that observation. But I know that the reason I check my email more than once a day is threefold: (1) to feel connected to other people, (2) to feel on top of things (the same urge that drives me to read the news), and (3) to stay out of trouble with work, in case there is some emergency on the website. If I had a job where all I had to do was check email, and answer them from what was already in my head, that might actually be fulfilling. Or if all I had to do was work on one programming project per week, that would also be great. But email and programming don't mix well.
paulmd 10y ago
I think this is especially important for developers. Our jobs are very intellectually complex, we have to constantly maintain a mental model of the code as we trace a bug back from the place it manifests to where it originated, as well as when formulating a solution to correct the bug that won't break anything else in the program. When you get popped out of "the zone", you don't just lose the two minutes it takes you to answer your coworker's question, you also are losing the 15-30 minutes of context that you built up about the behavior of the problem. Donald Knuth phrased it thusly: "Email is a wonderful thing for people whose role in life is to be on top of things. But not for me; my role is to be on the bottom of things. What I do takes long hours of studying and uninterruptible concentration. I try to learn certain areas of computer science exhaustively; then I try to digest that knowledge into a form that is accessible to people who don't have time for such study." It's bothered me in the past, now I'm thinking about doing something about it. Like disabling desktop notifications in Outlook for anything that's not flagged Important.
- douche 10y ago
  > I think this is especially important for developers. Our jobs are very intellectually complex, we have to constantly maintain a mental model of the code as we trace a bug back from the place it manifests to where it originated, as well as when formulating a solution to correct the bug that won't break anything else in the program. No one has posted it yet, so here it goes: http://heeris.id.au/2013/this-is-why-you-shouldnt-interrupt-a-programmer/ http://heeris.id.au/2013/this-is-why-you-shouldnt-interrupt-... I've got it printed out and pinned to my bulletin board.
- combatentropy 10y ago
  > I'm thinking about doing something about it. > Like disabling desktop notifications in Outlook [...] You haven't done that yet?
zakki 10y ago
I should add "don't check HN too often" to myself.
keyle 10y ago
That's when you don't get someone sending you an email and then coming to your desk right after that saying "Hey, so, I've just sent you this email, you don't have to respond right away, but huh, it's about this client... <20 mins of rambling nonsense>"
brchr 10y ago
I find it really interesting that modern CPUs are designed for "interrupt coalescing," where they group interruptions into clusters. It’d be great if modern desktop/mobile OSes were designed for that: "Only notify me once every 5/10/30/60 minutes, but then tell me everything."
- f_allwein 10y ago
  Would also fit well with the Pomodoro technique - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique
  - brchr 10y ago
    Absolutely.
  - gumby 10y ago
    I have never understood the pomodoro idea. When I'm busy writing code the last thing I want to happen is to be interrupted by an alarm.
    - freehunter 10y ago
      That's exactly why I've never tried it. I haven't found many situations where I can clock in at a specific time and clock out a few minutes later. 15 minutes, 25 minutes, however long that clock is set for, what if I haven't even started to grasp the problem? And then I have to reset my mind? Again, I haven't even tried it, but my technique usually consists of "start working on a problem, stop working when you need a break". Works pretty well, and there's no timer involved.
    - vbezhenar 10y ago
      Pomodoro designed to solve procrastination issues, when you're spending time watching cats on youtube instead of starting to work. If you have no problems starting to work, you don't need pomodoro, just do your work.
    - Veen 10y ago
synthmeat 10y ago
Generalized to communications - my phone serves as a notification hub for me and it's on vibrate almost exclusively. Mostly, it's not even in the same room as me. Unless for specific intent, I don't ever have communication tools fired up on laptop with exception of SMS' and phone call notifications through Continuity. When I tell people about this, I usually get "stop being selfish" / "get off your high-horse" looks. I don't really care.
overcast 10y ago
I've disabled all noises, vibrations, and 99% of notifications on my phone. For the few apps I do use, all of them are disabled from pushing notifications. Only iMessage and Unibox(email) get placed into the notifications queue. I just can not be glued to this thing anymore.
sauronlord 10y ago
Perhaps if we read less email we would have more time to read articles on the nytimes and be subjected to shitty ads.
pjlegato 10y ago
Yes. People. This. And it applies even more to texts. It prevents you from fully interacting with the people who are actually around you when you pull out your phone every 30 seconds to fire off a quick text reply. There is absolutely no reason to check your texts on a continuous basis, as they come in. It makes you nervous and instills a perpetual low-grade anxiety in you. If it's an emergency, they'll call you. If it's not, then it can wait. tl;dr check notifications in batches, at predetermined checkin points, rather than continuously throughout the day. You'll be happier for it.
- toki5 10y ago
  I am a hyper paranoid person. If I don't check my phone, I think that someone might have messaged me. If my phone's notification light is blinking, I think of all the things it could be; the possibilities occupy 100% of my brain. I think -- what if mom just got hit by a bus? What if my doctor's calling me with test results? What if my sister's just found out she's having a baby? These things are rarely the case. 90% of the time it's a spam e-mail or a note from a friend that doesn't need to be addressed right away. But I will still think about these things, and actively worry about them, until I read the message. So it helps to put the phone away, somewhere where I can't see it, on silent so I can't hear it -- even still, I have to check it at frequent intervals, without a real pattern, because a random glint in the corner of my glasses will make me think "oh was that my phone? Wait, my phone's in the other room. I wonder if I have messages? Shit, what if someone's been trying to contact me?"
  - pjlegato 10y ago
    Yes, exactly! The solution is simple (but not necessarily easy): turn off ALL notifications and badges and vibrations, except for the actual telephone function (i.e. when people call you synchronously, a traditional phone call.) Disable all the rest entirely. No blinking, no vibrating, no numeric badges with little numbers quietly ticking up and up in the corner. Then tell all your important friends and relatives and co-workers to just call you on the phone, a real traditional synchronous phone call, if something truly important happens.
- sumitgt 10y ago
ourmandave 10y ago
But email tells me when there's a Facebook update.
ClassyJacket 10y ago
I haven't checked my email since 2008. I didn't think many people still did. My phone simply alerts me when one comes, and at work it appears on my screen.
- scholia 10y ago
  Can I assume you don't get 150 emails a day? Or maybe you just have clever filtering that blocks the junk ;-)
peterhartree 10y ago
I made a Chrome extension for Gmail which uses CSS to make your inbox hidden by default [1]. This makes it easy to search your archives or compose new messages without seeing your inbox. Users of the extension report benefits that sound similar in kind and magnitude to those mentioned in the article [2]. The median user has Gmail open, but the inbox hidden, for 1.5 hours per day (mean: 4.5 hours). I'm starting to think that "inbox hidden by default" should be the standard UI for an email client. [1] https://inboxwhenready.org https://inboxwhenready.org [2] https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/inbox-when-ready-for-gmai/cdedhgmbfjhobfnphaoihdfmnjidcpim/reviews?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/inbox-when-ready-f...
- Ajedi32 10y ago
  Google Inbox has this built-in. Just turn on the pinned toggle at the top of the screen.
bexp 10y ago
Short Summary by http://hn10.org http://hn10.org : This points to another possibility: Could the frequency with which you check your email play a role in causing stress? Meanwhile, we asked the other participants to check email only three times a day, while keeping their mailboxes closed and alerts off. Even when we asked participants to check email only three times a day, they typically admitted to logging in almost five times a day. A recent survey found that 55 percent of workers reported checking their email after 11 p.m. — and 6 percent reported checking email while they or their spouse were in labor. A version of this op-ed appears in print on January 11, 2015, on Page SR12 of the New York edition with the headline: Stop Checking Email So Often.
Namrog84 10y ago
One of the things that's noticeably approved my life for personal emails is to simply reduce the amount you get. I objectively examine newsletters and other things as to if any value and if actionable do I ever take. I realized dozens of things I was subscribed to weren't adding value. Removed all but a few. Now I naturally check personal email less because of less new mail coming. Same with work emails. Those I can't unsubscribe from so I make rules to push them into a subfolder of a folder I always have minimized for 85%. Then 10% into subfolders in another expanded folder I do check. The rest hits my inbox. As more inbox mail comes in. If it's something even semi consistent in nature. I'll add rule. Otherwise I'll view it and move on. It's less about checking email as often. As simply having less email to read subject lines of, this indirectly causing less need to check email as frequently
dsmithatx 10y ago
I've read this before and I'm sure it was posted here. If I don't check my email 5-10 times daily I have 100+ message every few hours. I work in a company of 90,000 people and I'm a lead devops engineer supporting around 70 developers. Checking my email hourly during business hours and once after 5pm keeps my inbox tidy and my stress level much lower. Last time I missed two days of work I came back to 800 messages and it tooks weeks to catch up. The stress of seeing 100s of messages is what gets to me. Constantly cleaning up my inbox is the only way to avoid that stress. Now if I was allowed to develop infrastructure as code all day this would be very distracting. I hope for that Nirvana one day. However, since I do a lot of support and people depend on me I need to constantly react and switch gears.
- kobeya 10y ago
  You need to reduce the amount of incoming mail. How do people like you actually get any work done?
  - aninhumer 10y ago
    Alternatively, if someone gets that much email, it sounds like answering those emails is their primary job, and they should discharge some other responsibilities.
- fokov 10y ago
  I'm just a dev but my solution was due to my laziness. I use Outlook/exchange with folders for different areas and then add rules to automatically move them to each area. Dev is for my team with sub folders for areas of the world or team purpose. I do the same thing with QA. Everything else, especially build emails go into other folders. This lets me glance at outlook and know a decent level of importance for new emails. If something lands in the index, i'll create a new filter most of the time. Getting included on a bunch of email chains and even getting forwarded emails that I sent out piled up my inbox and I hated it. Took too much effort to go through the crap and keep track. I hate being in meetings and having to watch people go into a single inbox and never find anything. I work for a software company making software, and I still think 25% of the time is wasted watching people fumble around on computers not knowing what they are doing.
sengork 10y ago
Each to his own but checking email should be done strategically. There are plenty of people who are more than happy to elect to clean out low attention and no value emails inside their work inboxes even when on leave via mobile phones. It makes their 1st day/week back at work all that much less involved in email.
cel1ne 10y ago
I removed access to my email-account from my iPhone. Never regretted it.
antirez 10y ago
We don't have this problem, too busy checking Hacker News to check the email often.
adamconroy 10y ago
That's a great title for a self-help book. I'll read it once I finish 'How to look out the window'. It never occurred to me that obsessive email checking could be a distraction or a negative thing, but now someone has done a study of 124 people it has made me sit up and think, but alas I can't figure out how to stop so I'll need someone to tell me.
larodi 10y ago
NYTimes with its lengthy articles is the most ridiculous place to find tips about how-to-stop-being-distracted-by-bs... Not to mention, that NYTimes is some 10 (if not 20) years behind schedule with this particular article...
tete 10y ago
It's funny (and sad), but people, even when they are not actively interrupted tend to check things like Hacker News a lot when they live in an environment with many interruptions. This kind of aligns with the idea (backed to some degree by various studies) that trying to do multiple things, which you are doing in such an environment leads to people finding it hard to focus and distracting themselves.
tete 10y ago
Even though it's about the design of Unix (tools) this seems to be mildly related: http://www.linfo.org/rule_of_silence.html http://www.linfo.org/rule_of_silence.html

222 points by colinprince 10y ago

I just look at my notifications when I pick up my phone to check what new emails came in, if it's important I'll either reply to it there or if I need to reply later with something I need a PC for I'll leave the notification up so I remember later. I don't have any issue with this and it seems pretty much perfect to me. I don't get the problem.

cagrimmett 10y ago

My method to stop compulsively checking messages yet still be responsive to my clients' support emails was to institute the Pomodoro Method (25 minutes on a task, 5 minutes off, repeat for the whole work day). I close off all communication (Slack, email, Skype, etc) for the 25 on-task minutes and only check them during the 5 minute breaks. If something urgent comes up, I dedicate my next 25-minute task period to dealing with that item. This has broken me of my involuntary email/Slack/IM checking and instead keeps me focused on the task at hand.

TheOneTrueKyle 10y ago
But shouldn't you be using that 5 minutes for relaxing instead of diving back into stress. Maybe an extended pomodoro session with an extra 3-5 minutes for team communication?
- cagrimmett 10y ago
  I've been mostly fine with my method because every 4 Pomodoro I take a long 30 minute break. Also, not every 5 minute sessions results in messages I need to read and respond to, so those are essentially breaks.
- nkozyra 10y ago
  Getting stuff done is remarkably soothing. I know that sounds kind of sad, but escaping the distractions and actually doing something is such a difficult task with the constant barrage of communication that I truly value it. It gives respite.
- dood 10y ago
  "A change is as good as a rest"
bogomipz 10y ago
>"My method to stop compulsively checking messages yet still be responsive to my clients' support emails was to institute the Pomodoro Method (25 minutes on a task, 5 minutes off, repeat for the whole work day)." This actually sounds very compulsive to me. I know everyone is different but for me to have an unwavering 30 minute cycle day in day out would drive me crazy.

drops 10y ago

Nowadays there's not much reason to actually check the email manually because of all the mail-checking browser extensions. This of course brings up another problem: getting the emails as they arrive can be as distracting as constant stream of notifications from messengers and team chats like Slack.

liquidise 10y ago

I don't mean to hijack the focus from email specifically, but i find slack suffers from the same, if not worse, issue. Without exception, the most productive days i have had since my team adopted slack are the days when i forget to open it in the mornings, and achieve hours of uninterrupted work. All of these conversations, be it open-office/email/slack/etc are a rehashing of something we all know: fewer distractions leads to increased productivity. The trick is to balance that with collaboration and help channels, so the product and collective productivity of a team is improved, not just an individual's.

the_watcher 10y ago
I find Slack less distracting than email, simply because I spend far more time thinking about how to phrase my replies over email, while Slack is more conversational. That said, I've started limiting how often I check either, and have found that it helps with my workplace stress levels, as well as productivity.
toomuchtodo 10y ago
Could not agree more. Ive disabled Slack notifications on my phone entirely (and much prefer email over Slack; Slack creates an unnecessary sense of urgency). Unless the shop is burning down, nothing needs my attention immediately. If it does, call my cell. Some things deserve purposeful friction.
codebeaker 10y ago
I thoroughly recommend Cal Newport's book "Deep Work" if you want to understand the drivers of this effect, and help make constructive arguments in favour of a less connected workplace. (replied to the top thread, but it's applicable to everyone in this sub-threaD)
giancarlostoro 10y ago
I try to use it when convenient such as sharing URLs or files, but we have an open office setup at my job, so it's easier to just talk to one another.
bogomipz 10y ago

v64 10y ago

When my manager stops freaking out when an email goes unanswered for 10 minutes (or I get a new job), then I'll stop checking my email so often.

harryh 10y ago
Your manager isn't a god. (S)he's just your boss. Tell them that you check email once an hour (or whatever interval you prefer) and respond to everything in batches. You find that allows you to better focus on your core work and that you're overall more productive that way. If (s)he asks you to change your routine just say no. Try it. It's very empowering.
- v64 10y ago
  Some of my team have fought this battle and lost. If you don't respond, you get a tap on the shoulder which is even more distracting. Unfortunately, the number of people who find this annoying are in the minority, so it is what it is. If it's the worst thing I have to deal with at work, I'll live.
  - jsmeaton 10y ago
    I'd prefer the manager getting up and tapping me on the shoulder even if that is more distracting. Then at whatever review you might have (or not) say that constant interruptions have a negative affect on the work you do. Your manager sounds like a bad one.
    - v64 10y ago
      I don't want to heap the blame entirely on him. Other people I work with also hold the opinion that emails should be responded to as soon as possible, so he has support. It's all relative, and they certainly pay me well enough for the trouble.
    - adamconroy 10y ago
      Yes, its generally much faster to have a quick conversation rather than reply to an email.

makecheck 10y ago

It might be neat to apply machine learning to something like incoming messages (whether E-mail or text or otherwise), to automatically determine the real importance of a communication based on how you classify other messages. After awhile, it should be possible to achieve minimal interruption, based on what you consider worthy of an interruption. I know that I don’t like simple solutions like marking E-mail as “important”. In my experience, some people will always mark their stuff as “important” and their definition is not my definition.

true_religion 10y ago
Why not get an admin assistant instead?
OJFord 10y ago
I think Thoughtbot did something like this with 'FOMObot' - analysing whether you're likely to be interested in current conversation in a channel, rather than always being altered to the channel's activity. Iirc it's open source on Github, I heard about it on 'the bike shed' podcast. (Which I'd recommend, for whatever it's worth.)
ergl 10y ago
Spark already does this. It classifies emails into "personal", "newsletters" and a few others — it will only notify you of personal emails.
- NAHWheatCracker 10y ago
  My understanding of what makecheck is talking about is a more personalized sort of classification, though. I haven't used Spark, but it seems from what I see that this aspect of the product just classifies a few generic types of emails that everyone receives. However; I don't think Spark learns to classifies emails that only I receive. Like I always instantly delete emails from Debby in marketing about upcoming customer engagement sessions. If you could create your own category, and add new emails to that category and once you have a statistically relevant number, ML could start classifying that stuff. On the other hand, who needs ML when you can just set up a filter to automatically delete emails from Debby with the word "Customer Engagement" in the title.

jayajay 10y ago

If you are checking a feed like email, or chat, you are expecting a new item. If you fail to get a new item 9/10 times you check the feed, it certainly makes sense that you may feel stressed or feel like you have less control over things. You can't control when the items come into your feed. 9/10 times, you are hyping yourself up to expect something, and then getting disappointed when it's not there. I think this kind of result is true for anything that requires waiting for something out of your control. The train, the doctor's office, replies to your comment, etc.

j-c-h-e-n-g 10y ago
Here's the solution I follow for the problem(s) you point out: https://www.google.com/search?q=circle+of+concern&espv=2&biw=1018&source=lnms&tbm=isch https://www.google.com/search?q=circle+of+concern&espv=2&biw...
- jayajay 10y ago
  Interesting, and introspective. I think I now remember doing this in 2nd grade. We don't wanna forget about the things in the circle of concern, but we don't want to dwell on them unless we can actively influence them. If one is keen to dwell on something in the circle of concern, they should make an effort to move it into the circle of control.

edgarvaldes 10y ago

I check my email once an hour. I hate the feeling of imminent distraction, so I close the email client and open it again one hour later.

spraak 10y ago

s/Email/HN/g for me

6stringmerc 10y ago

For a while Xobni was elite at being able to see metrics and dashboard like stats for email communications. Not sure about the Infinity Version though...

unicornporn 10y ago

Seriously. In this day in age, is email really the big threat? Email feels like bliss to me, compared to the constant bombardment of information via different instant messaging channels. Riot, Signal, Telegram, Wire and WhatsApp ― yes, they're all installed on my phone and they are constantly polling for my attention by blinking that notification led on my Android phone. Yuk.

JohnJamesRambo 10y ago
Uninstall them?
overcast 10y ago
Seriously, remove those apps. For the few apps I keep on my iPhone, THEY ALL have notifications DISABLED. No longer pestered by them, taunting me to log in again and look.
stronglikedan 10y ago
Hear hear. Email if it's not important. Call if it's important - but it better be important, and not a "quick question" or "I just emailed you something...".
swah 10y ago
Never heard of Riot, will try! Thanks!

acbabis 10y ago

When I saw this in the HN feed, my first thought was "I should see if I got that email"

bborud 10y ago

I have no problems not checking my email. Email has become the dumping ground for emphemera. Clingy bullshit from companies you have bought stuff from, people who whine, automated emails from so many different places despite adding new filters every week. Want my attention? A handwritten note is actually the best way nowadays. Because I only check my work email once or twice per day, and I only check my personal email every two days or so.

csydas 10y ago
For the external sources, there is of course not much you can do (except a filter for "unsubscribe" to catch most spam/newsletter emails), but for work email and chat, having a strong established culture on what is expected can go a very long way. When I was managing a support arm for a university, I was happy to make myself available as often as necessary for my employees, but this had the predictable problem of getting phone calls at 11 pm or later about something as trivial as "the main printer in the Library is jammed". My predecessor had over-reacted out of fear of inconveniences like this and the result was that important problems, like entire dorm outages or critical systems going down weren't reported after business hours. I ended up establishing a simple and illustrative set of guidelines on appropriate communication methods and assessing the severity of an issue; maybe it's just because no one had taken the time to do it before, but as soon as the guidelines were distributed, almost instantly the level of communication fell in line with expectations - our evening student workers hit about the exact right level of communication for off-hour issues, and our business hour workers knew the exact right way to process new issues that arose. In my currently workplace, we have a brevity rule in place when it comes to communications be it in our chat or email. Spamming messages is discouraged and comes with some reprimand if it's a repeated offense, from the beginning, it is hammered into people's minds what other resources are available for reference before going to chat or email for assistance, and so on. Our frontline support works across the hall from R&D, and both teams will work in tandem when required for certain issues. iIt's pretty important to make sure we have the right balance of accessibility for resolution of new bugs and respect for everyone's time (higher tier support, R&D, etc). Compared to my very first job out of university, these two standards for communication were far better, and I think it left many people much happier. Having a grounded stance on communication expectations for your workplace can do a lot to ease the torrent of emails and messages; there will always be people who are exceptions, and will spam messages or email or phone calls for whatever whim they have, but you can't really plan for such types; the rest will fall in line if there is a clear expectation of best means to communicate. This doesn't have to be set in stone or put harshly, just clearly stated as "I'm happy to help - here is what I really can help with, for other things, you probably want to find X, and you can best get my attention by doing Y. Problems [P-S] get my attention quickly, other things may be responded to in T minutes." It doesn't have to be that formal, but if your time has to be that micromanaged, then something like this helps. Most people really are worried about interrupting and interfering, but there aren't always clear visions of what is and isn't bugging someone. Just getting it out there clear for people goes a long ways to reduce work stress.

combatentropy 10y ago

Email is a social activity. It's not the greatest social activity, but it is more social than programming. I find myself drawn to it partly for this reason. I don't know exactly what to do with that observation. But I know that the reason I check my email more than once a day is threefold: (1) to feel connected to other people, (2) to feel on top of things (the same urge that drives me to read the news), and (3) to stay out of trouble with work, in case there is some emergency on the website. If I had a job where all I had to do was check email, and answer them from what was already in my head, that might actually be fulfilling. Or if all I had to do was work on one programming project per week, that would also be great. But email and programming don't mix well.

paulmd 10y ago

I think this is especially important for developers. Our jobs are very intellectually complex, we have to constantly maintain a mental model of the code as we trace a bug back from the place it manifests to where it originated, as well as when formulating a solution to correct the bug that won't break anything else in the program. When you get popped out of "the zone", you don't just lose the two minutes it takes you to answer your coworker's question, you also are losing the 15-30 minutes of context that you built up about the behavior of the problem. Donald Knuth phrased it thusly: "Email is a wonderful thing for people whose role in life is to be on top of things. But not for me; my role is to be on the bottom of things. What I do takes long hours of studying and uninterruptible concentration. I try to learn certain areas of computer science exhaustively; then I try to digest that knowledge into a form that is accessible to people who don't have time for such study." It's bothered me in the past, now I'm thinking about doing something about it. Like disabling desktop notifications in Outlook for anything that's not flagged Important.

douche 10y ago
> I think this is especially important for developers. Our jobs are very intellectually complex, we have to constantly maintain a mental model of the code as we trace a bug back from the place it manifests to where it originated, as well as when formulating a solution to correct the bug that won't break anything else in the program. No one has posted it yet, so here it goes: http://heeris.id.au/2013/this-is-why-you-shouldnt-interrupt-a-programmer/ http://heeris.id.au/2013/this-is-why-you-shouldnt-interrupt-... I've got it printed out and pinned to my bulletin board.
combatentropy 10y ago
> I'm thinking about doing something about it. > Like disabling desktop notifications in Outlook [...] You haven't done that yet?

zakki 10y ago

I should add "don't check HN too often" to myself.

keyle 10y ago

That's when you don't get someone sending you an email and then coming to your desk right after that saying "Hey, so, I've just sent you this email, you don't have to respond right away, but huh, it's about this client... <20 mins of rambling nonsense>"

brchr 10y ago

I find it really interesting that modern CPUs are designed for "interrupt coalescing," where they group interruptions into clusters. It’d be great if modern desktop/mobile OSes were designed for that: "Only notify me once every 5/10/30/60 minutes, but then tell me everything."

f_allwein 10y ago
Would also fit well with the Pomodoro technique - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique
- brchr 10y ago
  Absolutely.
- gumby 10y ago
  I have never understood the pomodoro idea. When I'm busy writing code the last thing I want to happen is to be interrupted by an alarm.
  - freehunter 10y ago
    That's exactly why I've never tried it. I haven't found many situations where I can clock in at a specific time and clock out a few minutes later. 15 minutes, 25 minutes, however long that clock is set for, what if I haven't even started to grasp the problem? And then I have to reset my mind? Again, I haven't even tried it, but my technique usually consists of "start working on a problem, stop working when you need a break". Works pretty well, and there's no timer involved.
  - vbezhenar 10y ago
    Pomodoro designed to solve procrastination issues, when you're spending time watching cats on youtube instead of starting to work. If you have no problems starting to work, you don't need pomodoro, just do your work.
  - Veen 10y ago

synthmeat 10y ago

Generalized to communications - my phone serves as a notification hub for me and it's on vibrate almost exclusively. Mostly, it's not even in the same room as me. Unless for specific intent, I don't ever have communication tools fired up on laptop with exception of SMS' and phone call notifications through Continuity. When I tell people about this, I usually get "stop being selfish" / "get off your high-horse" looks. I don't really care.

overcast 10y ago

I've disabled all noises, vibrations, and 99% of notifications on my phone. For the few apps I do use, all of them are disabled from pushing notifications. Only iMessage and Unibox(email) get placed into the notifications queue. I just can not be glued to this thing anymore.

sauronlord 10y ago

Perhaps if we read less email we would have more time to read articles on the nytimes and be subjected to shitty ads.

pjlegato 10y ago

Yes. People. This. And it applies even more to texts. It prevents you from fully interacting with the people who are actually around you when you pull out your phone every 30 seconds to fire off a quick text reply. There is absolutely no reason to check your texts on a continuous basis, as they come in. It makes you nervous and instills a perpetual low-grade anxiety in you. If it's an emergency, they'll call you. If it's not, then it can wait. tl;dr check notifications in batches, at predetermined checkin points, rather than continuously throughout the day. You'll be happier for it.

toki5 10y ago
I am a hyper paranoid person. If I don't check my phone, I think that someone might have messaged me. If my phone's notification light is blinking, I think of all the things it could be; the possibilities occupy 100% of my brain. I think -- what if mom just got hit by a bus? What if my doctor's calling me with test results? What if my sister's just found out she's having a baby? These things are rarely the case. 90% of the time it's a spam e-mail or a note from a friend that doesn't need to be addressed right away. But I will still think about these things, and actively worry about them, until I read the message. So it helps to put the phone away, somewhere where I can't see it, on silent so I can't hear it -- even still, I have to check it at frequent intervals, without a real pattern, because a random glint in the corner of my glasses will make me think "oh was that my phone? Wait, my phone's in the other room. I wonder if I have messages? Shit, what if someone's been trying to contact me?"
- pjlegato 10y ago
  Yes, exactly! The solution is simple (but not necessarily easy): turn off ALL notifications and badges and vibrations, except for the actual telephone function (i.e. when people call you synchronously, a traditional phone call.) Disable all the rest entirely. No blinking, no vibrating, no numeric badges with little numbers quietly ticking up and up in the corner. Then tell all your important friends and relatives and co-workers to just call you on the phone, a real traditional synchronous phone call, if something truly important happens.
sumitgt 10y ago

ourmandave 10y ago

But email tells me when there's a Facebook update.

ClassyJacket 10y ago

I haven't checked my email since 2008. I didn't think many people still did. My phone simply alerts me when one comes, and at work it appears on my screen.

scholia 10y ago
Can I assume you don't get 150 emails a day? Or maybe you just have clever filtering that blocks the junk ;-)

peterhartree 10y ago

I made a Chrome extension for Gmail which uses CSS to make your inbox hidden by default [1]. This makes it easy to search your archives or compose new messages without seeing your inbox. Users of the extension report benefits that sound similar in kind and magnitude to those mentioned in the article [2]. The median user has Gmail open, but the inbox hidden, for 1.5 hours per day (mean: 4.5 hours). I'm starting to think that "inbox hidden by default" should be the standard UI for an email client. [1] https://inboxwhenready.org https://inboxwhenready.org [2] https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/inbox-when-ready-for-gmai/cdedhgmbfjhobfnphaoihdfmnjidcpim/reviews?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/inbox-when-ready-f...

Ajedi32 10y ago
Google Inbox has this built-in. Just turn on the pinned toggle at the top of the screen.

bexp 10y ago

Short Summary by http://hn10.org http://hn10.org : This points to another possibility: Could the frequency with which you check your email play a role in causing stress? Meanwhile, we asked the other participants to check email only three times a day, while keeping their mailboxes closed and alerts off. Even when we asked participants to check email only three times a day, they typically admitted to logging in almost five times a day. A recent survey found that 55 percent of workers reported checking their email after 11 p.m. — and 6 percent reported checking email while they or their spouse were in labor. A version of this op-ed appears in print on January 11, 2015, on Page SR12 of the New York edition with the headline: Stop Checking Email So Often.

Namrog84 10y ago

One of the things that's noticeably approved my life for personal emails is to simply reduce the amount you get. I objectively examine newsletters and other things as to if any value and if actionable do I ever take. I realized dozens of things I was subscribed to weren't adding value. Removed all but a few. Now I naturally check personal email less because of less new mail coming. Same with work emails. Those I can't unsubscribe from so I make rules to push them into a subfolder of a folder I always have minimized for 85%. Then 10% into subfolders in another expanded folder I do check. The rest hits my inbox. As more inbox mail comes in. If it's something even semi consistent in nature. I'll add rule. Otherwise I'll view it and move on. It's less about checking email as often. As simply having less email to read subject lines of, this indirectly causing less need to check email as frequently

dsmithatx 10y ago

I've read this before and I'm sure it was posted here. If I don't check my email 5-10 times daily I have 100+ message every few hours. I work in a company of 90,000 people and I'm a lead devops engineer supporting around 70 developers. Checking my email hourly during business hours and once after 5pm keeps my inbox tidy and my stress level much lower. Last time I missed two days of work I came back to 800 messages and it tooks weeks to catch up. The stress of seeing 100s of messages is what gets to me. Constantly cleaning up my inbox is the only way to avoid that stress. Now if I was allowed to develop infrastructure as code all day this would be very distracting. I hope for that Nirvana one day. However, since I do a lot of support and people depend on me I need to constantly react and switch gears.

kobeya 10y ago
You need to reduce the amount of incoming mail. How do people like you actually get any work done?
- aninhumer 10y ago
  Alternatively, if someone gets that much email, it sounds like answering those emails is their primary job, and they should discharge some other responsibilities.
fokov 10y ago
I'm just a dev but my solution was due to my laziness. I use Outlook/exchange with folders for different areas and then add rules to automatically move them to each area. Dev is for my team with sub folders for areas of the world or team purpose. I do the same thing with QA. Everything else, especially build emails go into other folders. This lets me glance at outlook and know a decent level of importance for new emails. If something lands in the index, i'll create a new filter most of the time. Getting included on a bunch of email chains and even getting forwarded emails that I sent out piled up my inbox and I hated it. Took too much effort to go through the crap and keep track. I hate being in meetings and having to watch people go into a single inbox and never find anything. I work for a software company making software, and I still think 25% of the time is wasted watching people fumble around on computers not knowing what they are doing.

sengork 10y ago

Each to his own but checking email should be done strategically. There are plenty of people who are more than happy to elect to clean out low attention and no value emails inside their work inboxes even when on leave via mobile phones. It makes their 1st day/week back at work all that much less involved in email.

cel1ne 10y ago

I removed access to my email-account from my iPhone. Never regretted it.

antirez 10y ago

We don't have this problem, too busy checking Hacker News to check the email often.

adamconroy 10y ago

That's a great title for a self-help book. I'll read it once I finish 'How to look out the window'. It never occurred to me that obsessive email checking could be a distraction or a negative thing, but now someone has done a study of 124 people it has made me sit up and think, but alas I can't figure out how to stop so I'll need someone to tell me.

larodi 10y ago

NYTimes with its lengthy articles is the most ridiculous place to find tips about how-to-stop-being-distracted-by-bs... Not to mention, that NYTimes is some 10 (if not 20) years behind schedule with this particular article...

tete 10y ago

It's funny (and sad), but people, even when they are not actively interrupted tend to check things like Hacker News a lot when they live in an environment with many interruptions. This kind of aligns with the idea (backed to some degree by various studies) that trying to do multiple things, which you are doing in such an environment leads to people finding it hard to focus and distracting themselves.

tete 10y ago

Even though it's about the design of Unix (tools) this seems to be mildly related: http://www.linfo.org/rule_of_silence.html http://www.linfo.org/rule_of_silence.html