Americans Addicted To Checking Email
Posted on August 1st, 2008 by Mike Sachoff in the Articles section
Close to half (46%) of U.S. email users say they are addicted to email according to a survey from AOL.
More than half (51%) check their email four or more times a day and one in five said they check their email more than 10 times a day. Over a quarter (27%) are overwhelmed by their email and have considered deleting all their email messages and starting over. Twenty percent of users said they have more than 300 emails in their inboxes.
To start over, 24 percent have singed up for new email accounts and 69 percent said they have multiple email accounts, up from 52 percent in 2007.
“We really do live in a 24-7 society and it’s not uncommon to be online and checking email at all hours of the day,” said Regina Lewis, AOL Online Consumer Advisor. “Sometimes we need to take a step back and refresh with an empty inbox or even a new inbox altogether to clear our mind and focus on those emails and relationships that are most important to us.”
When queried about email etiquette, 24 percent said they don’t use a greeting to start an email message and 23 percent do use some form of greeting in the first email they write to a co-worker or friend.
“If you converse regularly - bantering back and forth throughout the course of your workday - it’s okay to leave out a salutation,” said Cherie Kerr, author of The Bliss or “Diss” Connection?: Email Etiquette for the Business Professional, “Otherwise, people can feel as though you didn’t care enough to write out their name. To really get someone’s attention, the best thing you can do is call them by name.”
Most (88%) email users said they pay attention to spelling and punctuation when writing emails, and 68 percent said email with spelling and punctuation errors annoyed them. They majority (74%) make exceptions to errors when emails are sent from a mobile device like a BalckBerry or iPhone.
“At the end of the day, it’s all about your image,” added Kerr. “Typos and poor grammar are the equivalent of walking into a room looking unshowered and disheveled. Good writing in an email shows you have both professionalism and class.”