It's been five months since I gave up using one of the world's leading free email providers. It started-off with a silent bang in 2004 - 1GB storage space, 10 invites per user, labels etc. and its fame and functionality has never slowed down since. I remember holding back those invitations because I didn't want to share it with friends who won't appreciate it, so I literally screened through my 'VIP list' - yes, it was a very big deal. It wasn't about 1GB - but free? Hello?
Three years down the road, it was decidedly so that I needed a break from all the great tools it has been offering. I had come to a stage where I felt I was doing too much with my email and at times it got so crowded that I totally overlooked important emails - those that were personal to me, emails that came with spam-looking subjects (e.g. 'hi sheena' or 'hey how's it going...') but aren't spam. I usually end up with hundreds of unread emails if I don't check it over the weekend, because I took the increasing storage for granted which leads back to what I was saying: I was doing too much with my personal email account.
Next? I totally switched-off from over-multitasking with a single client - and the best way to do it was to remove myself from that one thing that actually gave me the superpowers to over-multitask.
Here are some steps which I'd voluntarily gotten myself into while switching email providers:
- Turned on the vacation settings, wrote a note which began with "I'm no longer..."
- Activated free POP
- Removed myself from over 30 (at least) subscription/membership emails (again, I took the storage space for granted)
- Filtered another 20+ and had a blast (truth: migraine) deciding which company deserves a special folder in my next mailbox (Manchester United made the first cut no doubt)
- Revisited websites which I'm a 'member' of, received frequent updates from; but never actually 'been' there for the past 3 years - and unsubscribed from them.
And so I'm back to one of the earliest free email providers which I had signed-up for decades ago (my math: 1 digital year feels like/equals to 4.25 human years). Although it looks slightly more sophisticated now and went all AJAX and Web 2.0, it is pretty much the same compared to 10 years ago (well, except for its 5GB storage of course - which only came about much later).
Since the switch, I started using it to write emails to my parents, my best friend in Dubai, my relatives in LA, and even acquaintances whom I'd met through social networking sites. It just feels so different to be able to anticipate updates and write back with excitement. And that was all I was doing with my email, except for the occasional newsletters from CNet and MediaPost, among others. It's like taking a babystep back to the world of penpals (read my first post here at Collective Conversation) and snail mails but just speedier. Phone calls and IMs never dipped so low in my "Top 5 Communication Tools" list.
I'm pretty sure this will not lead to another nomadic
move. This is a significant transfer and it has come to stage 3. First
I got bored with simplicity, then I switched to 'enhancement' which led
me to complexity; and finally here I am, talking about me switching
back to simplicity.
I just wanted something that doesn't come with too
much perks. But maybe this will change - who knows? I'll let you know
once I make another switch. After all, nomads will always be nomads.
So what exactly are you doing with your personal email? Are you fusing too much work-related stuff with it? Are you using it to track competitor news? Do you subscribe to Marketing-Interactive with it? Maybe it's time for spring-cleaning. In my case, I did mine in Malaysia so since it's summer all year long, my 'summer-cleaning' was nothing but tedious. It's still November, so it's not too late to start reorganizing a significant part of your digital life and welcome the new year with a clean box. After all, many clients' FY08 has already begun (we just welcomed HP's two days ago), and starting with an organized mailbox (both work and personal) will definitely land you a good payback - productivity wise!
Time to head to the subway and hunt for Chinese dinner at Walmart!
Disclosure: HP's a client.
updates [15 Nov, appx 9:50pm]: a post I just read, titled "Email contacts: the natural social network" - a good read.