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Email Addiction - How To Break Free
Category: Self ImprovementWhen was the last time you checked your e-mail?
Did you check your e-mail as soon as you woke up this morning? E-mail is becoming an integral part of everyone’s work and social routine, but it’s also become compulsive behavior for some people who check it every 10 minutes. Since every desk in every office now has computer on it, it’s difficult to get away from your Inbox. But what if you can’t get out of your Inbox?
Is it a Compulsion?
Many people complain that they can’t sit and work for more than 10 or 15 minutes at a time without their mind wandering and their mouse drifting toward their Inbox. There is an important difference between someone who is simply staying up-to-date with their clients or friends, and someone who feels helpless without knowing if they have e-mail. Compulsive behavior is a clinical diagnosis and this diagnosis can be applied to people who can’t stop themselves from engaging in harmful behavior to themselves or others.
Reward Circuitry in the Brain
There is a potential for people to develop an addiction to e-mail as it offers some validation and reinforcement of self-confidence and importance. When people train animals, the most effective way to get them to do something is not by rewarding them with treats every time they do something correctly. The reward-and-punishment mechanism is more complex than that. The best way to condition this behavior is rather to reward only sometimes and even then only randomly. Studies have found that this regimen actually makes animals work harder for their reward and persist longer even when there is no reward.
Perhaps this reinforcement truth can explain people’s addiction to constantly checking their e-mail. Even though we don’t have new e-mail every time we check it, every time we do check it, there is a possibility that there could be. Next time, we may be rewarded with a forward from a friend of a cute kitten, or an e-mail from a friend or client, a message that reinforces one’s place and value in the world.
Breaking Free
There are some options for those who constantly check their e-mail, although all take a little self-discipline.
You can change your settings on your e-mail to only notify you every hour or two if you get something in your Inbox. Or you can use the punishment-reward theory and deny yourself coffee on your next break if you check too often. Even though you may only be spending two minutes to check the status of your Inbox, if you’re doing that 20 times and it can add up. In some cases, professional help is the only way real changes can be made.
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Learn of the harms and pleasures of virtual living at http://www.troubleblog.com/internet-addiction/2008210/
Tags: e-mail addiction, email addiction, email compulsion, internet addiction, net, pda addiction, web addiction