You've got mail!...maybe

When you were younger, did you get all excited for the mail? I totally used to look forward to checking the mailbox, because anything that arrived for me was pretty much going to be cool - an actual letter or card of some kind, or maybe a package - fun stuff.

By now, however, my physical mailbox is usually filled with bills, junk flyers, and catalogs (which are occasionally fun, but these days I toss them without looking at anything because if I don't look at the ads, I won't want what they're pushing). It's much less exciting. There are even times of the month where I dread getting the mail because I don't want to get certain bills.

So e-mail has become my, "oh, goody, something cool!" thing. Because yeah, I get a ton of spam and boring e-mail, but a lot of e-mail is stuff I signed on for, or actual communications from cool people. I'd say I get a lot more "cool" mail via e-mail than via snail-mail by this point.

The problem, of course, is that snail-mail comes once a day - I know once I've picked up the mail I don't have to think about it till the next day. E-mail, on the other hand, arrives willy-nilly, whenever, according to no fixed schedule. Which is part of what makes it fun, but which also means that I can get a little obsessive about checking my (three!) e-mail accounts. Do I have any e-mail now? No. What about now? Nope. Any yet? Nada. Now? Oooh, e-mail - oh, it's a coupon off pet-food. Well, okay. Maybe there's something now....

Obviously if I'm actually working - teaching class, cleaning the apartment, cooking dinner, exercising, whatever - something that involves not being in front of the computer screen - I don't stop every two minutes to check e-mail. (My students might rightfully take offense at me checking e-mail during class. Although, hey! If they check e-mail when I'm not engaging enough, can I check e-mail when they're not engaging enough?) But if I'm writing or doing class prep or something else that involves computer time? And especially if it's not
perhaps the world's most exciting task? I'm an e-mail inbox-clicking machine.

All of which is to say, I think I need to get a life.

Comments

[phd me]

I passed the obsessive point a looong time ago. My email is always open; I am rarely far away from my computer; ergo: I am always checking email. Funny thing is, when I don't have access - traveling without the laptop, for example - I don't really miss it. I guess I just enjoy the thought that there's a connection with someone, however tenuous, while I'm slogging away (that, and the distraction).

And I was a total mailbox watcher when I was a kid. I was over the moon when my birthday came around because people sent cards addressed to ME! The year I got a birthday PACKAGE (it was a doll!): you should see the pictures my mom took of my pure ecstasy unwrapping that thing.

I'm not sure I get that excited about anything anymore... :)

[jo(e)]

I miss getting real mail. When I was a kid, I used to get stuff from my grandmother and my aunt. It was so exciting.

[~VP~]

I love getting mail, be it snail mail or email. I used to be a compulsive "email checker" but now I check email only three times a day and just turn it off in between times. And I have 11 email accounts (fortunately all are forwarded to one account).

[helenesch]

I just have my mail progam set to ding whenever I get new mail (and I'll check it right away nearly all the time!). I'll even respond right away if it's something quick. When I had dialup (which wasn't that long ago), I would actually dial-up and sign in several times *an hour*. That was pretty obsessive, I think...

[dr four eyes]

"Do I have any e-mail now? No. What about now? Nope. Any yet? Nada. Now? Oooh, e-mail - oh, it's a coupon off pet-food. Well, okay. Maybe there's something now...."

How did you get inside my head?

[Belle]

I love getting real mail; touchable evidence that somebody cares enough to take the time and effort to write. I also adore email from friends, which is fortunate, since all my friends now prefer free (email) to non (snail mail). But I still have those treasured notes from dear family & friends... and I don't keep the emails.

I have 5 email accounts; only one snail mail. Guess which get checked more often!

[Werther]

cute.