Electronic mail. Once, the most public property ever. For free! Shortly after we arrived in the 21th century, it helped us out due to the advantages of bringing information and communication up to speed. By decreasing the need for writing laborious and expensive letters, this digital equivalent became mainstream in society in no time.
And like the Brad Pit-quote in Fight Club: “The things you own, end up owning you,” we soon found ourselves completely depended on e-mail.
But customers, preferences and technology change. Nearly 20 years later the question is: what is left of the original purpose of sending e-mail?
When was the last time you sent someone you know, or someone you didn’t know an e-mail? When was the last time you were happy when you received an E-card for your birthday, your anniversary or, when ‘holidays-were-coming’?
Cui bono?
Having said that: cui bono? Who profits from sending all these e-mails? Because just like all modern apps in the Google Play Store, these old-fashioned e-mails are sent to draw people’s attention in today’s 24/7 ‘attention economy’. We use all kinds of apps, text (in the Netherlands we prefer to call it WhatsApp) and so on to help ourselves. To do our thing. For our personal matters. But less and less of this e-mail traffic is truly related to us as a human being and individual. To our personal way of living, or our lifestyle.
Basicly, a whole lot of people only send e-mails in a defensive way nowadays. To get rid of something. To make someone stop complaining. To reply to an alert. To pay a bill. To look for a job. To fit in. To respond properly to an authority.
There has been no change in this business model these past 20 years. Every time we open up our inboxes, we have to give in. We see lots and lots of so-called information, confirmation, formal appointments, local news, social news, FYI’s, alerts, bills and more alerts, advertisement and spam.
It seems the only people who still benefit from using e-mail and generating all this traffic, are the ones that work at organizations with higher levels of power. Such as Google, Microsoft, health insurance companies, the advertising industry, the Internal Revenue Service and so on.
And the more you spend time in your inbox and the more you do as you’re told, the more money they make and the more they control your time and one of your scarce commodities: your attention!
We Quit Mail
Several weeks ago, I came across two concepts. One of them was: We Quit Mail.
To erase as much daily e-mail traffic as is possible, to reclaim your time and attention and to reduce your stress levels you can join The National E-mail Diet Program on https://avanteers.nl/we-quit-mail/magazine-wqm/ (please be aware that all this is in Dutch!).
You can also find it on Facebook 'at Wequitmail' and on Twitter by using 'hashtag wqm'.
The general idea is to join the action plan, join the community and just finish e-mailing! Simple as that.
You pay for joining the program in a social way. By using your social capital. This means that you share what you learn and that you are on board of this action plan, with your social network(s).
After that, there is a chance you can even delete your e-mail account and live your life without e-mail permanently!
Earn.com
The other concept is Earn.com. I found it thanks to a friend of mine and I recently created a profile: https://earn.com/martijn4ever/. It is a paid way of sending e-mail. But in this case 'paid' doesn’t mean you have to pay for the account, because only YOU will get paid for every e-mail you resend.
Also, Earn.com added a brand new option of linking your Gmail account to your Earn.com account. And if you don’t want to quit e-mail, you can create a whitelist with it. And every time e-mail comes in, whether it is a person or a company inside or outside your usual business or personal network, you can just bounce all these attention killers return to sender.
Afterward, Earn.com moves the bounced e-mails to the archive section in Gmail automatically. Change your mind? You can still access, read and reply these e-mails over there.
Please find an example of this personal and paying out ‘out-of-office-reply’ below:
Sent by Earn.com
Martijn
Martijn bounced your email
Pay to resend
Hi there,
I'm using Earn.com to automatically bounce emails from outside my network. It helps me prioritize my inbox and save time!
If you're a friend of mine, click below to request a spot on my whitelist. Your emails will get through as normal.
If I don't know you, go ahead and send me a paid message. You'll only pay if you get a response.
Thanks,
Martijn
How to reach Martijn:
Send a paid message
Request to join free whitelist
This email was sent automatically by Earn.com.
Lists
There’s more to it. At the moment, you can join 84 lists and communities that are about all kinds of interests and topics. Professional ones, business, social media or whatever. A few days ago I became a member of a few of these lists myself. You can than look for small assignments to complete and earn US Dollars. For instance to answer a few questions or to provide a few data with your permission.
Afterward, when you receive your payment you can also trade these US Dollars for Bitcoins!
I hope these concepts I recently found will help you dealing with your daily information overload too. Please feel free to add any comments below.