Email Withdraw Day

One of the places where I teach is experimenting with an "email withdraw day." It's a risk, the superintendent has admitted, but just an experiment . . . with a point.

I love the idea of experimental changes, especially when they confront the norms and habits of daily life and when they remind us that life has not always been this way. Such is the story of email. Email has become the norm of communication these days. It is also an addicting habit to have to check it all day, everyday. And, yes, there was a time when we could live without it. The phone and postal services still do work. People can make time to meet together. Face-to-face communication might be a scary proposition for some who prefer the safety of hiding behind a computer screen!

But the truth is, that, for better or for worse, I do a lot more communicating than I did before email. I was never a great one for using the US postal service and making phone calls. And even though I "talk" to people more through email, I still get behind in keeping up with that level of communication. It's as if, in this world of faster and faster paces, the standards just keep getting higher and higher. Now instead of making a few phone calls a week or writing a few letters a month, I need to write numerous emails a day! And when I don't get back to people "immediately," or within a few days, I feel I need to apologize for the delay in response. We write faster and expect faster results. And sometimes it's that instant gratification or affirmation we crave. We want to know what people thought of our ideas or information as we multi-task on dozens of other things. The one-on-one, face-to-face relating that most people depended on years ago has been replaced by text, screen names, email addresses and passwords. Relationships almost happen within a vacuum.

It does our bodies good once in a while to remember that life was not always this fast paced . . . that with, perhaps, a bit more effort, we can nurture relationships and communication in less intense ways. We forget our human-kindness at times when computer chips and cyberspace interpret and transport our words and thoughts before we even have enough time to fully think or speak them. Withdraw or retreat from such habits and addictions just might be a good thing once in a while. Imagine what would happen if we all took an "email withdraw day."