Why it’s time you started ignoring your emails

When I’m on a work deadline, I’ll skip breakfast, ignore phone calls (sorry, Mum) and even go thirsty rather than step away from my desk. But something I always seem to find time for is the never-ending trickle of emails I receive throughout the day. And it seems I’m not alone.

A new book, Unsubscribe: How to Kill Email Anxiety, Avoid Distraction and Get Real Work Done, claims email addiction is a time-wasting epidemic in the modern workplace. It aims to help those who feel overwhelmed by their inbox, and waste hours each day trying to get on top of it. Several recent studies bear out this theory, with one finding the average worker checks their email 77 times a day, sends and receives over 100 and reads their first one within minutes of waking up.

Jocelyn K. Glei, the author of Unsubscribe, says that while checking emails throughout the day may make you feel productive, the opposite is true. When I explained the way I reply to emails as and when they come in, she compared it to answering a ringing telephone every few minutes throughout the day (which is ironic, given how annoyed I feel when people call me while I’m trying to work). Glei also told me that constantly staying on top of emails increases stress, too. “Scientists have established a clear link between spending time on email and stress,” she says. “In other words, the more frequently we check our email, the more frazzled we feel.” So, with that in mind, here’s how to have a healthier relationship with your inbox.

Don’t check every five minutes

A study from Loughborough University discovered it takes about 64 seconds to recover your train of thought after reading an email. “The human brain has a tendency to want to complete tasks,” says Glei. “When it recognises a task has been completed, it releases the feel-good hormone dopamine, which is why we feel happy after clearing our inbox or ticking things off a to-do list. However, scientists have also discovered our brains particularly like completing small easy tasks, and email is a perfect example of that. So dealing with emails initially feels productive, but it’s also a never-ending task, so after a while unread emails feel like unfinished tasks. The result? You feel anxious.” The solution? Check your email every 30 minutes rather than every three, and eventually aim to check it just a few times a day at set times.

Close down an email conversation Thanks to the dreaded “Reply all” button, I’ve often come back to my desk to find long email threads discussing dinner plans or a work meeting. “Those ‘reply all’ back-and-forth conversations drain time and focus,” says Jocelyn. “Email isn’t a forum for debate. So reply and then politely close down the conversation.”

Hide your inbox Every time you stop what you’re doing to glance at your inbox, you’re incurring something researchers call a “switching cost”. “Research shows having your email programme open in the background as you work decreases performance,” says Glei. “Even if it’s minimised, if you can see new emails coming in your brain knows they’re there and devotes a certain amount of energy monitoring them.” She suggests avoiding this by either closing down your email outside your set “checking” times, or positioning your screen so you can’t see it.

Create an email hierarchy “Your inbox is a complete mix of relevant and random people, but generally only five to 10 per cent of emails are important or helpful,” Glei says. “So categorise the people who email you. Your husband, wife, child’s school, parents or boss are ‘VIPs’ and they can be set up as such in iCloud Mail, so you get an alert when a VIP emails you. Next up are ‘key collaborators’, like good friends and family. Then there’s the junk pool of newsletters, offers and unsolicited pitches, which can be immediately zapped with one of the several unsubscribe apps.” Every day, my inbox is full of offers from Pizza Express, Boden, Achica and Photobox, which is hugely distracting. So after speaking to Glei I downloaded the Unsubscribe for Gmail app (free, iTunes), which lets you unsubscribe from mailing lists and newsletters with a quick swipe, and my inbox load lightened immediately.

Quick tips for a better inbox

- Tackle tricky emails early. We know that willpower declines during the workday, so use your morning checking session to deal with emails that require creativity or concentration and the afternoon to deal with mindless ones that simply need a quick reply or a delete button.

- Remember the mantra ‘not everything is urgent’. Only 5 to 10 per cent of emails are urgent or important, so don’t keep checking them in bed or during dinner. You’re not going to miss anything.

- Know that it’s OK to ignore some emails. If you got 200 letters a day you’d never think to reply to them all, so why should email be different? While replying to every email you get is polite, your time is limited, so don’t feel obliged to reply to cold-call emails.

- Publicise your email habits. Tell colleagues you only check your email a few times a day so they know what to expect.

- Let go of the zero inbox dream. An empty inbox isn’t a measure of productivity. So let go of the notion you’ll ever have one.

— TheTelegraph Group Ltd, London 2016

Unsubscribe: How to Kill Email Anxiety, Avoid Distraction and Get Real Work Done by Jocelyn K Glei is available at Magrudy bookstore for approximately Dh60.