why i have so much free time online part two

Part one discussed Gmail filters and how to use these to benefit you so that you don’t need to check your email often. Now for part two.

You may be wondering why I would create all these filters, and why not just go and visit the sites on that weekly hour. I am a modern girl, have all the latest websites; linkedin, facebook, myspace, etsy, twitter, blogger (obviously), etc. So I check them daily right? Wrong. Most of these sites have auto sending powers to alert you when someone does something important. So, instead of checking my facebook page to see if I have email, comments, or invites, I just check my email. Done. Sure, I may not see that my friends child has a cold, but I think I can live without this information. If I do feel like checking on my friends, I can do that.

I also have a couple of different email addresses; the most used on is the one from school. Most email systems now are sophisticated enough to be able to forward to whatever email you want them to go to. Most, I do have one that won’t. So, my school email I NEVER check, it all comes to my Gmail account, and what happens to it, that is right, it is filtered away out of my way. May I rant about these messages for a bit, you may learn something from it. I get messages from the University I go to fairly often, telling me about bus changes, or big social gatherings I do not care to go to, or even closures of computer systems, that I am not going to be using at that time anyways. These get filed away, and then when I have a moment I glance at them and they are gone. I also get a lot of emails from my major. We are a unique group that spends way too much time together, almost as a home. My latest two email “Free food {here}” with a follow up five minutes later “And it is gone.” Check, check, delete. (People also get into fights with each other with this lovely system of large group emails.) Then we have the ones that come to me because I have graduated once, so technically I am alumni. So they tell me I should attend the events I am participating in anyways. All of these obnoxious emails all get filtered into the same place, I glance at them daily and if important I look at them, if not, they wait until Tuesday when I can go through them.

So then there are the few important items that get to stay in the inbox and get my attention. Take my friends for example. It is rare that someone emails me; I prefer to have my conversations in person. But on the occasion that they do I am notified of this the second I check my email, I do not have to wade through the email list, random garbage I did not ask for, or things that get me uptight. I see the message, click on it, read it, respond, and move on with life.

I am still able to keep up with the items I need to, being notified of items in a timely manner. I am also able to stay on all the lists I enjoy being on without it occupying my time when it wants to but rather when I want it to. It has completely freed up my time to be able to do the things I love in a limited amount of time.

How is your email time?