Is E-Mail Holding You Hostage?

• Author: Aldisert, Lisa
• Position: Brief Article

E-mail has been touted as one of the greatest communication tools to emerge in the information economy. Although definitely a timesaving, efficient tool, it can also hold you hostage. I 'm sure you've known people who have become slaves to e-mail. Of course, you aren't one of these people, but just in case this sounds familiar, read on.

E-mail is best used for short communication between two people. It is also efficient, for example, when a manager e-mails his or her people about a team-specific event. There is effective e-mail software that helps you sort and filter your incoming mail. It even isolates your "junk" e-mail and disposes it based on your instructions.

The popularity of e-mail has led to many misuses. These range from copying the world on every joke you receive to sending laborious, turgid, misspelled messages. Some people forward messages that have pages and pages of copied names that completely overwhelm the underlying message. Otherwise considerate people forget about etiquette when e-mailing. If you're not careful, this can send a mixed message.

Privacy doesn't exist in the world of e-mail. Think of e-mail as completely in the public domain. Anything you send can be forwarded to any number of people, anywhere in the world.

How can you use e-mail more efficiently? Here are some dos and don'ts.

* Don't e-mail your co-worker who sits around the corner. Get out of your chair and have a conversation. One of the horrors in corporate America is that e-mail has replaced the most natural of conversations. It's so bad that some companies declare one day a week as e-mail free, where no interoffice e-mail is permitted.

* Don't check your e-mail every 15 minutes. The beauty of broadband is that our offices are wired so that we're on line 24/7. The downside is that people are glued to their e-mail. This wastes a tremendous amount of time. It is also very distracting from your routine. Cluster your send and receive activity to a few times a day, unless...