Most of us freely admit that we are addicted to email or Facebook or Twitter or [insert digital tool here]. In truth, we’re not addicted to the tool but the biological feeling it gives us.
Email is a drug. Fortunately, there’s a way to quit. (Read the science first or jump down to the Not-to-Do List).
The Science of Addiction
In 1958, two Swedes discovered dopamine. Dopamine is created in various part of the brain and is critical for many brain functions including sleeping, thinking, motivation seeking and reward.
It’s those last functions that are at the core of our understanding of dopamine. For many years, it was believed that dopamine made us feel pleasure and therefore motivated us to seek out behaviors such as food, sex and drugs.
Recently, however, the understanding has changed ever-so slightly. Dopamine actually causes seeking behavior. It makes us want, desire and search.
For tens of thousands of years, dopamine was an evolutionary necessity. In order to survive, early humans needed a reason to get up and look for the watering hole. As they walked towards the river – BAM! – they would receive a shot of dopamine. That dopamine encouraged them to keep walking until – BAM! – another shot of dopamine. Finally, they would get to the river and enjoy some water. Thanks to dopamine they had the desire to keep moving towards a goal. This biological function has remained with us to this day.
This feeling of wanting that dopamine creates is complimented by the feeling of liking created by opioids. When our early ancestor took a drink of water after the long walk, they would get a shot of opioids and feel satisfied.
Interestingly, the dopamine system is stronger than the opioid system, so humans have a stronger desire to seek than to sit around enjoying. Evolutionarily, this is again beneficial. Our ancestors didn’t rest on their laurels sitting by the river. They would feel the urge to go look for something to eat, too.
Today, it’s not food and water we are looking for, but our brain doesn’t know that. We are able to receive dopamine and opioids at a moment’s notice from the digital tools around us.
We search for something on Google and are instantly rewarded with a result. We go to our email to see if anyone’s written us, and we’re rewarded with a new email to delete. Even after we find what we initially sought, the dopamine drives us to keep searching (the black hole of Wikipedia anyone?).
What’s worse, Pavlovian cues set off our dopamine system. Our early ancestors might see a tree and know there is water nearby, triggering their dopamine system. Today, when we hear a ding or a ring, we get a shot of dopamine and have the urge to see who texted us. All of these biological factors point to one truth: we’re addicted to the dopamine our technology sends our brain.
Exploiting Addiction
Understanding the science of addiction has been a cornerstone for businesses since 1957 when Vance Packard published The Hidden Persuaders. In it, he identified eight hidden needs consumers had that advertisers could exploit to create demand. Cigarette companies in particular took advantage of the persuasive factors through advertising (think Mad Men).
Today, businesses leverage not only the hidden needs of consumers but the very neurological system within consumers. Knowing that we are addicted to Pavlovian cues, companies create instant notifications. Buzzes, red numbers and alerts fill our screens begging us to return to their applications. As the Atlantic notes, Packard who questioned the morality of exploring emotion to order to sell products would surely question the exploitation of neurobiology to increase pageviews and likes.
Kicking the Email Addiction
Why does this matter? When we understand the science behind our addiction, we can eliminate the dopamine triggers. This helps us kick our digital addictions or at least reduce our dependency on them.
If we want to spend our one and only life on the things that matter, we must accept that our addictions take us away from our goals. We can achieve more than we thought possible if we work productively and focus on the people and work that are important to us.
To help improve your productivity and reduce your addiction, create your “Not To-Do List.” Instead of adding more things to your busy day, promise yourself that you will do less and give yourself the focus you need for work that matters. Start with this list of 9 Ways to Cure Email Addiction.
Your Email Not To-Do List – 9 Ways to Cure Email Addiction
1. Don’t use alerts - The buzz on your phone or pop-up message whenever you receive an email immediately distracts you from the task at hand and sucks you into the email vortex. Shut alerts off so you are in control of when you check your email.
2. Don’t use desktop email - Desktop email programs are almost always open inviting task switching as you do a quick check. These quick checks disrupt your creativity and inevitably lead to further distractions.
3. Don’t check email before 10am - I’m working on this one right now. Email is everyone else’s to-do list for you. Since there is zero cost for someone to send you an email, instead of trying to solve the problem themselves, they will send the problem to you. If you wait to check email until 10am, you have the first minutes of the day to work on your most important tasks before you are called upon to extinguish other people’s fires.
4. Don’t check email before bed or right after you wake up - Thanks to Tim Ferriss for this tip. If you check email right before bed you are often left with insomnia. At the very least, your resting brain is focused on your to-do list instead of creative thinking.
Many artists note that when working on a complex problem, they will visualize the problem before bed and wake up with the answer. This is the power of your resting mind. Don’t waste this power by thinking about a to-do list from your email. Similarly, checking email right when you wake up starts your day with stress and distraction as noted in the previous not to-do.
5. Don’t check email more than once an hour (batch email checking) - Again Ferriss highlights this essential tip. You don’t do laundry when you have two pairs of socks. You don’t run the dishwasher when you have a few plates. You wait until you reach a critical mass and then you take action.
For centuries, we have batch checked our mail because it would all arrive at the same time. Today, we receive email constantly. Instead of checking it constantly you will be more productive by finding a few key moments in the day to check your email and reply all at once.
I learned the power of this technique while studying abroad in Tanzania. There was one computer lab with power that cut out frequently and a price to use the computer that put an actual cost to checking email. By forcing myself to write emails (often ahead of time) and check and respond within 10 or 15 minutes, I was able to send all the messages I needed to.
While you may think of email as essential to your business, you can still batch email checking. Consider checking every two hours or use email checking as a reward for completing one of your important tasks for the day. This is time effective and helps you also focus on email when that is the task at hand.
6. Don’t aim for Inbox Zero (filter and forget) - Inbox Zero is the idea that we get our unread email to zero. This is a myth. As Scot Hanselman noted at the Innovation Expo, declare digital bankruptcy and move on. Instead of trying to get through your email, use filters and let emails sail by. If it’s really important, you will hear about it again.
Some filters that will quickly help are filtering any emails that you are cc’ed or bcc’ed on (you probably don’t have to take action on them). You can also filter out family and friends and read those after business hours. Any email that comes from an info@ email address could probably be filtered into another pile that could be forgotten about. Find ways to hit Inbox Zero for a tightly filtered group of important messages and let the others sail by you.
7. Don’t use email when a better tool exists - Because email is so well understood, it often becomes the tool we use for everything. Scheduling, project management and writing content are all tasks that we often use email for. This, of course, creates massive amount of email as everyone sends which days and times work, shares when they finish a task to the manager and updates documents.
Other tools exist that allow you to better complete these tasks. Plus, when you use a different tool, you are 100% focused on that task when you are working on it. If email is your main tool of communication, you will be distracted bo other incoming messages, pulling you away from what you are working on.
A few suggestions for tools include Doodle for group scheduling, Basecamp for project management and Google Drive for group content updates. We also use Skype for internal communication so the quick notes from employee to employee are not clogging the inbox. Interestingly, as you move critical tasks out of email, you are also able to avoid email for longer periods of time.
8. Don’t send email if you don’t want email - I’m always amazed when I take a vacation or a half-day off of work. The quantity of email suddenly drops. It points to what should be a self-evident fact: the more email you send, the more email you get. Most of the time, when we send an email we are asking for the recipient to take some kind of action or send some kind of answer. Stop sending email and you’ll stop receiving email.
9. Don’t check email one day a week (email sabbath) - For the health of you and your social relationships, take one day a week to not check email. Call it your email sabbath. (I also recommend this from your phone). Taking one day off helps cure phantom phone vibrating syndrome and helps you realize how much you can get done. The next day at 10am when you check your email you’ll find that you can take care of a day and a half of email in a few short minutes.
Controling our Neurobiology for Good
We now understand the science at play when we check and receive email. We also understand the importance of focused time and creativity.
To create amazing work, we cannot afford to be partially focused with frequent interruptions. We need time to think creatively and complete the tasks that are important to us.
Our digital tools are designed to feed our dopamine addiction so it’s imperative to cure the addiction. When you do, you’ll be able to work productively, creatively and create work that matters to you.
The post 9 Ways to Cure Email Addiction – A Not-To-Do List appeared first on 9 Clouds.
