AMY E MARTIN // Thesis

So does less than a minute of email scanning to make sure there was nothing affecting my work in my email count? Probably. I caved. A little bit.

Although I am glad I did because on my quick skim, I discovered one request for files and then another request for the same files a couple of days later.

Oops.

So I uploaded the files and sent a message via IM that they were uploaded--although I don't have the IM of the original file requester so I sent a message to the guy who sits a couple of people down from him. I'm no longer feeling anxiety about not checking my email since I saw everything in there and I was able to take care of things that seemed important. This brings me to another idea.

I still have not resumed regular visits to my inbox. That tiny crack yesterday, however, was enough to eradicate most of my anxiety. An idea for future exploration would be an inbox that you can see but not affect until some point in the future. I don't think this is a solution to anything because it is completely impractical (people want to do what they want to do when they want to do it), but it is something to consider. The primary feeling I've experienced so far with not checking my email is the worry that I'm missing something. A quick glance showed me what I did miss and then I continued on with the rest of my day worry-free.

So that's the negative part of this experiment-the anxiety. What is the positive part? I'm not sure yet. I don't feel particularly unburdened by not checking email. Or, I feel unburdened in general, but I think that's more a function of the semester end and the white noise maker completely drowning out my loud, early-rising neighbors (score!). I probably have more free time now that I'm not dealing with email, but I'm just filling that up with more reading of the internets. At any rate, I won't be resuming regular email behavior until next Monday so maybe something will come to me between now and then.

Labels: design explorations, random ideas