Greet-Ings…
If I absorb the information within the unread 5,500+ emails in my inbox and follow their wise advice, gone – Voila! – will be every mistake, misstep, wrinkle, extra ounce of fat, cholesterol, gray hair, depression and anxiety accumulated in my life. I shall be a Vixen! A Sexual dynamo! 30 again! A marketing genius! Well-read! Successful and rich beyond my wildest dreams! Informed! Transformed! Remade! Remarkable. What rubbish…
I counted them. 1,200+ email notifications from one single source since January. 500+ from another. Over 300 blocked spam messages that made their happy and deceitful way into my Email Inbox anyway. Dozens and dozens of warnings about every conceivable thing about which I should be immediately (if not sooner) fearful – Terrorism, getting sick, getting old, becoming poor, illegal Muslim Presidents, banking shams, internet dangers, tornadoes, fiscal cliffs off of which to topple in the middle of the night, the perils of being young, old, female, male, working, not working…the perils of being alive! Innumerable pleas and campaigns for my immediate purchase of potions, lotions and pills promising to erase every conceivable indication of my presence thus far on Planet Earth.
I use my email program to communicate because, ummmm, I’m a communicator. And it used to do this quite well until it was commandeered by those who think I suffer from an acute and incurable lack of information. Like a hopelessly clogged In-Sink-Erator, it no longer helps me communicate, rather it tries to prevent it at all costs. This does not mean I will remove my beloved email program, because within the thousands upon thousands of messages from people who willfully know absolutely nothing about me and don’t want to, I will discover a lovely message from someone I care about, with this to say: “How are you!!!! Left you a message from Santa Fe…..loved it there! Miss you….when will u b back in city?“
…and suddenly I remember why I got an email program in the first place..
Have a lovely day, everyone.
GM
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/technology/when-e-mail-turns-from-delight-to-deluge.html
February 11, 2013 at 12:19 pm
Information overload. That is all.
February 11, 2013 at 12:19 pm
If, of course, the flood of scaremongering e-mails and empty promises to make you beautiful and rich is not accompanied by a lovely e-mail from a friend at the end, you need only to reach into that secret drawer and remove a piece of salted caramel chocolate to make things feel right again.
February 11, 2013 at 12:23 pm
Hi, Rahul Roy Ya think?
Morning U-Ming Lee!
February 11, 2013 at 12:27 pm
(aside: yipeee! the notification issue I had with you has been solved!)
February 11, 2013 at 12:28 pm
Get a Gmail account. The only spam I get in my inbox is spam I somehow asked for (usually by mistake). I also don’t seem to lose things into spam. Sometimes I think Google knows me better than I do.
February 11, 2013 at 12:28 pm
Luckily, most of my spam ends up in the Spam folder. And if someone I subscribed to starts spamming me, they’re gone.
February 11, 2013 at 12:29 pm
On point: exactly so, email is despairing until you get that nice note from someone.
February 11, 2013 at 12:32 pm
Have you been whispering in the Gods’ ears Daniela Huguet Taylor? Yeah! Jim Williams do. not. like. Gmail. Never have. It’s like big brother and when I had it the problem was the same. Exactly the same. And from polling my friends no matter the program, I am told it’s the same. Matthew Graybosch I do filter. I am stunned how much crap comes through anyway. But here’s the thing: I’m about ready to turn off email notifications from G+ because that has become impossible too. Which means that I am at the mercy of that little red box and however many posts from people I enjoy that I miss now, I fear that my schedule will make me miss even more. As it is I get up at 5:00am… I need intravenous Notifications. Or G+ mind meld… Morning Matthew Graybosch!
February 11, 2013 at 12:33 pm
I cried a little to Yonatan Zunger on a post of yours, but he didn’t answer, so I considered it “lost in the wind”…
February 11, 2013 at 12:44 pm
I love Gmail the spam filter is excellent…
February 11, 2013 at 12:50 pm
Hmm… maybe we should end Saturday email delivery too?
Good (Monday) morning Giselle Minoli !
February 11, 2013 at 12:50 pm
Giselle Minoli I rarely see even one spam email in my inbox a month with Gmail. Its spam filters are amazing.
February 11, 2013 at 12:54 pm
Out of 5,500 emails only about 300-500 were spam. The others are from various people I know who are business people, Google+ers, writers – from every discipline of profession I know – who are now using email to sell their product. This is the difference for me. When I want someone or a group to read something that I write I post it on G+ or my own website…or I send a private email to a small group of people who are close friends. Do you all not get G+ notifications in Gmail???? Where do you get those notifications? Just from the little red box? If I relied on that only, the same thing would be true there…I would read fewer than I already do. I miss way too many things that are interesting to me. Unless we are now calling G+ notifications spam as well…
February 11, 2013 at 12:55 pm
Admittedly, I set GMail to automatically send all G+ notifications straight to trash. I don’t need to spend more time here than I already am!
February 11, 2013 at 12:57 pm
I send all G+ notifications to a folder, and don’t let them into my main inbox. I don’t usually get more than 20 or so notifications per day, so I can keep up using the red box.
February 11, 2013 at 12:57 pm
I turned off all the g+ notifications that I could for email, and the ones that I couldn’t are now filtered automatically out of the inbox and out of sight, there’s no way I could follow them from email.
I like the priority inbox for gmail, which not only filters spam to spam, but also picks out the emails I’m really interested in and doesn’t light up for the rest.
February 11, 2013 at 12:57 pm
See what I mean, U-Ming Lee. It’s the same.
February 11, 2013 at 12:58 pm
I eliminated almost all email notifications and have no problem keeping up via the red button in spite of all the notifications I get.
February 11, 2013 at 12:58 pm
And right now I have 8,763 unread “Google+” emails. Yeah, I guess I’d better get started on those…
February 11, 2013 at 1:00 pm
I let G+ send only notices for messages sent specifically to me. One of the main reasons I don’t really like it if people acknowledge me when forwarding a post.
February 11, 2013 at 1:01 pm
See Brian Titus? It’s the same. No difference. John Skeats then my hat is off to you because I get hundreds and hundreds and hundreds. And when I catch something great now it is pure luck…being there at the right place and time because there is absolutely no way, unless I were to spend 8 hours a day here, that I could read everything that comes pouring into my box. And for me to assume that those notifications don’t include anything interesting to me would be arrogant. Of course they do. I just can’t possibly read them all and work enough hours in the day to pay the rent.
February 11, 2013 at 1:02 pm
Jim Williams I have it pared down to the minimal of notifications. It is still hundreds and hundreds. From one G+ community that is really great, it’s over 500 in a month!
February 11, 2013 at 1:07 pm
Giselle Minoli , I filter all the incoming posts / Emails and sort them into “folders” or better label them. That keeps the emails I want to read at around 50 per day and is easy to manage. When I have more time, I read the ones that are labeled ..
February 11, 2013 at 1:13 pm
I filter my G+ notifications to their own folder. Additionally I filter circle adds to a different one. And even then, I still have to ‘start over’ now and then and just delete them, but at least they’re there. I try and be zen about it, and I’m not getting near the volume you’re getting Giselle Minoli my brain sweats just thinking about 1000’s of notifications a day.
February 11, 2013 at 1:25 pm
Michael B. I do the exact same thing. I have multiple folders for everything. I have been filtering like this for 20 years. I know lot of people because I cross work in several different industries – art, writing, design and performance, but something has changed in the past year that it has become unmanageable. This is not about how I, as an individual, manage my email program. The article is about the influx and the fact that it commands so much of everyone’s attention that you spend all of your time during the day having to manage it. I promise you that if you looked at my email program you would find no fault with it or with my management of it. You would, however, be stunned at the numbers of people who have bought into the false notion that email is a marketing tool and have switched from emailing me personally to emailing me to sell me something.
I make a distinction between selling me something like a potion or lotion or notifying me about the publication of a book they have written, in which I am interested, or a gallery exhibition they have, in which I am also interested, or a notice about something artistic or personal that I would want to respond to.
The real issue is that there is no boundary between the personal and the private any more. And I do make a distinction between my choice to post Publicly on G+, because that is what I love to do, and an unmanageable influx of emails that come from Planet Mars. It would take an algorithm genius to design one that fits the way my brain works and what it wants to know and doesn’t want to know on a day-to-day basis.
Will you design one for me? I would honestly love that!
February 11, 2013 at 1:35 pm
Some of those emails should cancel out.
Eg the gain 2 extra inches on your penis/bust, lose pounds on your waist/butt.
The your email has won a US$10 million dollar microsoft prize (or the FBI Mueller dude /U.N. want’s to recompense you) with the 20 something Russian hotty (male or female) who want’s to be your love interest. Yeah, those should cancel out
February 11, 2013 at 1:37 pm
Thankfully those are in the Junk folder Satyr Icon. Thankfully. That they still make it at all having having been filtered all these years boggles the mind. Maybe the senders think there’s hope that one day I will care about those extra two inches. If not today, then tomorrow I will care!
February 11, 2013 at 2:24 pm
That’s one really grand way to get the message across Giselle!
I read the whole thing through tee hee (I ordinarily ignore “gripe” posts which your’s turned out not to be)
Fabulously said by you! I Hope I’m not guilty of the blimp on your reasonings, and I for one, am definitely interested in knowing a kaleidoscopic woman as you. And I definitely have had a thought of you in real appreciation. Have a fantastic day Giselle Minoli
February 11, 2013 at 2:27 pm
See what I mean Wally Adams? I cannot possibly filter my G+ friends because they are all so interesting. So…it’s a conundrum. I don’t like programs that try to decide, based on how often I communicate with someone, who is important to me and who isn’t. It made me furious that an elderly friend, who writes very infrequently but who is uber important, would be relegated to the trash bin because of the assumption that the infrequency of his communication means he isn’t important. This is a failing of G+’s in my view…the assumption always that more is better, more meaningful and more important. It isn’t. Not ever in my view.
February 11, 2013 at 2:29 pm
Giselle Minoli those are precisely the type of people that inhabit my “notify me” circle.
February 11, 2013 at 2:31 pm
Honestly, I don’t know why I even turned G+ email notification on. Since I never read them, I think I’m going to just delete all 8,700+ and turn it off. I don’t need that bolded number hanging over my already-cluttered inbox…
I use “notify me” in the same way Daniela Huguet Taylor
February 11, 2013 at 2:36 pm
hear hear honey! I also don’t allow anything to decide things for me. Makes satisfaction quite a challenge, to say the least.
You should see my inbox – I’ve given up. I sighed one morning and then made my choice. I don’t open my gmail anymore. Yikes
I’m considering creating a new gmail address to give to a select few friends … desperate times, desperate measure. As they say.
I’m also losing relations because of public overload, I suspect. boohoo.
Giselle Minoli so, if you ever figure out a sustainable solution, please do let me in on the recipe. xoxo
February 11, 2013 at 2:37 pm
LOL Giselle Minoli .. it sounds as if you are on a complete different level and I did not mean to tell you to learn how your email program works
At the end all automatic filtering with always have it’s flaws .. it can help a little bit, but it can not do the job completely. I work on my filtering all the time .. and never seem to get it 100% right
.. I would LOVE to design one for you .. but honestly, I am certainly not capable to do so 
February 11, 2013 at 2:41 pm
Wally Adams yes, losing relations(hips)…this is a problem because I think that when I don’t respond to something someone thinks I’m not interested, when the problem is that there are so many people and things in which I am interested I would have to be here all day long in order to respond. And so, I leave the Notifications on because I hope that at any given moment the Muses will whisper in my ear when I’m off writing something else “You must read this, my dear,” and then I am saved for another day. Otherwise I feel that any moment I shall be flung off Tiberius’s Cliff to the angry sea below!
February 11, 2013 at 2:46 pm
I so hate that carpet bombing of fear. Fear makes slaves, and I don’t want to be one. This world isn’t as scary as they want us to believe it is. They just want us to buy something to counteract the fabricated anxiety.
This is a sad state of affairs. They managed to make us suspicious about the hidden reasons someone who says “good morning neighbor how are you today” might have.
I don’t want that kind of mistrust in my life. I got better things to do with my days.
February 11, 2013 at 2:48 pm
I’ve invented a little thing I call my “Arnie” post. Many of my contacts now recognise it as my saying a brief goodbye, or letting them know I’ll be back to carry on bantering … with whomever I am in mid-conversation with.
Then, when I return, they spot my posts and know we can chat again.
Those still talking to me, often plus the single word post from me to indicate they understand and accept my unannounced departure. Forgive the pun.
Well, it may be primitive, but it works for me. And when I get back, I look at the plusses and it reminds me who I was talking to when I left…. and then I post a comment on my Arnie or drop a separate mail or return to the relevant posts.
It is the only solution I have, considering I have no power to do more.
“Arnie” – derived from the movie “The Terminator” which starred arnold schwarzenegger. I like doing practical things with a bit of humor. Doesn’t everyone?
February 11, 2013 at 2:56 pm
George Kozi Could we women just get old and be loved along the way anyway? Why is that so much to hope and ask for? Why must I be reminded every single day that I Oh My God I Have a Wrinkle and a Gray Hair. And if heaven forbid I let my husband know he will be out my door and knocking on that of Carrie Underwood? Seriously, how in the world did I survive my 20s and 30s and 40s without all this crap someone is always trying to sell me.
However, you all have cheered me up. It is rather funny isn’t it?
February 11, 2013 at 3:02 pm
Giselle Minoli When I was probably a teenager, someone told that one of the best parts of growing older was that it made you fully appreciate the beauty of a wider range of women. I have found that to be so true. I bet your husband finds you every bit as beautiful as he did the day you met–and more.
February 11, 2013 at 3:03 pm
Giselle Minoli After I graduated into my 40’s I realized that getting older is OK. Life doesn’t stop, nor will my world collapse. It would just change, opening new possibilities. It will be a world where I have the luxury not to care about stuff I don’t care about.
I prefer a mature wine. The sparkly young one is only good for lunch and it is temperamental. The mature one has tones hidden underneath nuances and hints.
February 11, 2013 at 3:05 pm
You will laugh George Kozi that an elderly friend with much experience with women once said that women are like fine white wine, almost instantly drinkable, while men are more like red – they have to hang out in the keg for a long time before you want to go anywhere near the bottle!
Oh dear, Matthew Graybosch I have never read such words from you!
February 11, 2013 at 3:34 pm
Sometimes Matthew Graybosch the people who love us the most let us down the most, not because they choose to, but because we lean on them so much and need and expect so much of them. This is particularly true, I think of we artists. Woe be unto them and I am so glad they are in our lives.
February 11, 2013 at 4:41 pm
I’m glad that Gmail filters most of the crap out…
February 11, 2013 at 5:42 pm
I’ve switched off almost all notifications from G+, especially from communities. And I mute people who “share directly with me” with no good reason mercilessly, so as to keep the notification box cleaner. I check comments on my own posts directly, just in case I don’t miss anything.
If I miss something, so be it.
February 11, 2013 at 6:26 pm
Lena Levin have I bothered your stream at all? Hi there – oops I hope I haven’t
February 11, 2013 at 6:27 pm
I don’t really remember…
February 11, 2013 at 6:29 pm
Ah, that’s good news – being forgotten is always a good sign I could not have done too much wrong! You’re in my circles and please do accept my advance apology if I’ve been blocked
February 11, 2013 at 6:33 pm
You aren’t “muted”…
which probably means I haven’t received any random notifications from you.
February 11, 2013 at 7:06 pm
Wally Adams Lena Levin is a talented artist, among many other things, and you should know one another. She is an ever thoughtful and intelligent voice when she shows up on one of my threads. Lena Levin you are a wise woman, and clearly protective of your art time, which I respect and champion. Off with the Google+ Notifications at once!
February 11, 2013 at 8:33 pm
I’ve just moved her to a more focused circle, thank you so much Giselle. I feed off positivity and getting to know Lena Levin better sounds like a definite bonus. Ah, isn’t life a grand journey.
sheep sheep the Notifications are my only hope of catching ongoing conversations tee hee Giselle Minoli . I’m pretty whimsical in some quirky challenging ways
February 11, 2013 at 9:24 pm
Thank you, Giselle Minoli , Wally Adams . Sorry to say I’ve just done a rather scary painting, with little positivity to recommend it…
February 11, 2013 at 9:34 pm
Sort of an exorcism Lena Levin????
February 11, 2013 at 9:51 pm
Just posted it, you can have a look and decide for yourself…
February 12, 2013 at 10:21 pm
And like Daniela Huguet Taylor my notifications are also now working so that I am notified of your postings Giselle Minoli – and those emails are most welcome! Have a great day dear Giselle.
February 21, 2013 at 3:01 am
I have about 8000 when I last counted and I did exactly what you suggested. Everything worked except I didn’t become a Vixen.
February 21, 2013 at 3:03 am
had
February 21, 2013 at 1:07 pm
That’s really too bad, Mark J Horowitz. A business card reading Mark J. Horowitz, Vixen would have been quite amusing and gotten you work I’d bet. Perhaps in a field other than intended but it would be work nonetheless!
February 21, 2013 at 3:09 pm
Giselle Minoli Yes, that’s true but I’m not interested in those fields