The Psychological Rush of Email

The Psychological Rush of EmailWhile email can connect individuals with speed and facility, that is not the only reason why it is so popular. All of the billions and billions of emails that circulate around the globe are not important contracts or negotiations. More often than not, they involve insignificant affairs that we treat with importance and anticipation. People constantly check their emails because of the rush it provides.

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Douglas Rushkoff explains the difficulty of not checking emails:

Why is this so hard for so many of us? It’s not because we need the email Subscription5.1for our productivity, but because we are addicted to the possibility that there’s a great tidbit in there somewhere. Like compulsive gamblers at a slot machine rewarded with a few quarters every dozen tries, we are trained to keep opening emails in the hope of a little shot of serotonin—a pleasant ping from the world of chronos” (Douglas Rushkoff, Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now, Penguin Group, New York, 2013, p. 117).