Two Types of People

September 8, 2003 — by Per Christensson

There are two types of people in this world -- those who keep up on their e-mail and those who don't. I fall squarely in the latter category. Yes, I could blame it on the hundreds of spam messages I receive each week, the multiple e-mail accounts I have to check, or even my "busy schedule." But when it comes down to it, I just don't keep up on my e-mail.

I think part of my problem is that I don't like writing short messages — I like writing personalized messages to everyone I respond to. I also make sure everything is grammatically correct before I send it. I'm not one of those people who writes, "hi, how r u? i,m doing good. i haven;t talkled to u ina while . write back," and expects my recipient to take me seriously. However, this means more time per message that I write, which leads to less messages getting written. It also makes viewing a long list of unanswered messages more daunting. It's like the blank paper syndrome -- getting started is the hardest part.

Nevertheless, I am planning on cleaning out my Inbox one way or another and starting clean in the next few days. Then I plan on keeping up with my e-mail. If it was the New Year, I would make a resolution. However, seeing that it is only September, I might have to wait a couple months before I take myself seriously.