Blog Prompt from Digital Scrapbook Place: Can you survive without e-mail? How has it changed your life?
I've never been one for writing a letter and mailing it. Of course I never really had anyone to send a letter to since my family all lived within a short distance from me. There were of course a few short-term pen pals through the years and the four years my brother was in the Navy.
In the late 1980s we got our first computer and we used AOL. At that time it wasn't unlimited use--you had a small amount of time each month to be online so I got adept at working offline. I became interested in genealogy and my world started opening up with family far and wide and I lived to sign on each night and download my Email to read. There was not the spam at that time that there is now. I would check my Email at least once a day. The only time I didn't check it was when I was on vacation, which was not a problem.
As time went on, Email became a standard in the workforce. Until I learned to set a reminder to check my Email only twice a day and how to manage my Email, my work day centered around reading Email and responding. It became harder and harder to get any work done. Although I love Email, learning to manage your Email is very important so it doesn't rule your life.
Back to the original question, can I survive with Email? Yes, for a short period of time while on vacation if I don't have Internet connection, but I have come to look forward to my Emails to see what's new in my interest groups. I still check my Email too much. My personal Email is checked at least three times a day, but usually much more.
