Could you go 30 Days without email?

Before you answer a hearty "No way" or "Dream on," remember- you used to do it ALL THE TIME. You probably started ministry without email, and though it has helped in many ways- at what cost? 

Here's one woman who gave it up for month and discovered some interesting things about herself and others:

"My e-mail was making me sick. No, I'm not paranoid that it was emitting cancer-causing electricity. But whenever I opened my in-box, I noticed a creeping resentment.

I had come to hate e-mail, for all the reasons anyone does. It interrupts and overwhelms. It causes stress. It distracts the brain and encourages the fracturing of attention. Because it's devoid of verbal tone and facial expression, it leads to miscommunication, confusion, and hurt feelings. All for the sake of making our lives "easier."

I started thinking about the problem a few months ago, when I was burned out from a year of overwork at the theater company I run. By chance, I found myself with a copy of Carl Honoré's "In Praise of Slowness", a brilliant criticism of the culture of speed.

Honoré is a proponent of the Slow movement, which encourages a deceleration of everything from cooking to business management, driving to talking styles-- based on the belief that speed can produce disconnection from daily life. And every time I read the word "speed," I couldn't help substituting "e-mail."

Of course, I might never have read his book at all if I hadn't been kindly put on mandatory vacation by everyone in my life. One of my theater partners said, "Why don't you take four weeks? You can't get anything done over the holidays, anyway."

Though I burst out laughing, I conceded, kind of: I took three days. And after they passed, I took another. And another. I put up an outgoing message on my e-mail saying I'd be away for an entire week. Then total irrationality struck. I couldn't take vacation for the rest of my life, but I began fantasizing about what would happen if I gave up e-mail for good.

In the end, I decided on a 30-day e-mail detox. No e-mail, in or out, for one month. Anyone can do a month, right?"

Read the rest here

Comments

[Bill Reichart]

I feel and understand her angst with email...but what are we do now that the genie is out of the bottle. Certainly, not too many years ago in ministry, email wasn't an issue...I got by just fine.

But now the rules have changed. My previous job description as a pastor had the expectation to "return emails within 24 hours".

Email is the catch all...you never know what to expect when you open up your inbox. You can get anything from a stupid and silly cat video that your friend sends you via Youtube, to a heart wrenching email on why a family is going to leave the church.

I think small fasts would be helpful. When I do days with the Lord, those days are wonderful without email..but honestly I just don't know how to avoid it these days.

[Bob]

Good point-

here are some thoughts I had

1. Refuse to answer ANY email immediately. Batch answering once or twice a day (11 and 4) TRAINS people who regularly email you not to expect instantaneous replies. That's also why I refuse to answer most phone calls :) Demanding my attention is bad enough without expecting it

2. While you're not processing emails, don't even have the stupid thing open. Why would you?

3. Out of Office replies for days off, vacation/sabbath days, even weekends.

Basically, the only way this ever changes is if people begin to dial back their expectations of instantaneous responses, and the only way that happens is if we stop giving it to them.

What else? Other thoughts?