Suddenly Snoozing Your Email Box Is The In Thing
from the do-not-disturb dept
Just last month we pointed to a study that showed that more experienced internet users checked their email a lot less, as they had realized what a distraction it could be. Of course, there are some people who just can't resist -- so it's interesting to see companies and services trying to deal with it. First there was the launch of a service called HitMeLater, which lets you forward your email to an address that determines when it will resend that email again. That is, if you get an email that you don't want to deal with right away, but know you'll forget about it once it scrolls out of the main pane of your inbox, you can just forward it to 4@hitmelater.com and it will email that message back to you four hours later. You can replace the number with any number of hours you want, or with the name of a day, and it will resend the email on that day.But apparently it wasn't just HitMeLater thinking about this type of service. Microsoft is apparently experimenting with its own email snooze button for Outlook. It's different than HitMeLater, in that this is really a solution for those who simply can't resist checking email. Instead, you can have the system put up a virtual "Do Not Disturb" sign -- and Outlook won't sync up your email for whatever period of time is specified. Of course, there will be those who will say that people just need to learn some discipline on their own, but knowing that's not going to happen, what's wrong with some tools to help people out?
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Filed Under: email, overload, snoozing
Companies: hitmelater, microsoft
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Woah, hello tech support calls
Can you imagine the tech call "I'm not getting e-mail again."
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screw e-mail
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...and that's how it all begins...again
Snooze buttons, although sometimes good, create the tendency for people to be late to their jobs or appointments. Snoozing an email (which, mind you, can easily be done by simply IGNORING IT), only increases procrastination, and not completing tasks on-time. So what happens when you get so much email that you can't read it all, apparently, and then snooze-it away only to receive it all back in bulk 4 hours later (not including all the regular new email you're getting)? Do you then send it all back? You're so stressed out over email that you...just...can't...handle it so you send it away only to receive even more of it later! Talk about stress!!
Bad idea all around. But leave it to people and big companies who can't manage their own tasks efficiently to create software for people just like themselves and future a world of deep-seeded procrastinators...all through their email. Here's to you! Cheers!
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Re:
That was one of the first things through my mind too.
Its too obvious a feature, so it obviously must be patented.
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Microsoft's Solution
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Low Tech Solution
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Seriously ...
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AwayFind for your email backlog
great post. there is a local company here in DC called AwayFind www.awayfind.com.
With AwayFind, you can stop checking email...with the peace of mine that urgent messages will still reach you.
You should def check this out too as a great alternative
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Am I the only one . . .
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Gmail's had it for a bit
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http://techdirt.com/articles/20080820/0248002041.shtml
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Awesome idea I've wanted for a long time
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