Datamail has declared an
“Email Free Day” in an attempt to reduce information overload?
To me, that is like declaring a “Traffic Free Day” to reduce congestion on the roads. That would certainly eliminate gridlock but at what cost? Don’t people actually use cars to get to places where they can relate with each other to achieve something useful? Aren’t car-pooling and public transport better solutions to this problem?
Information overload is not inherent in email itself but in the way it has been implemented as an individual communication medium. It is great for one-to-one, great for one-to-many but very poor for many-to-many communication. As it is usually implemented, email overloads people with content and isolates from each other and the ideas they use in their work.
What is required is for email to be implemented as a group communication medium.