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Title:
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CONVENIENT FOR WHOM? EXPLORATORY FINDINGS OF AN EXPERIMENT IN EMAIL WITHDRAWAL |
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Author(s):
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Melissa Cole |
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ISBN:
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978-972-8939-20-5 |
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Editors:
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Gunilla Bradley |
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Year:
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2010 |
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Edition:
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Single |
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Keywords:
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Information overload, social networks, ubiquitous computing |
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Type:
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Short Paper |
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First Page:
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208 |
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Last Page:
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212 |
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Language:
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English |
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Cover:
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Full Contents:
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click to dowload 
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Paper Abstract:
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The danger of the past was that men became slaves. The danger of the future is that man may become robots. Erich Fromm Today, we live in a digitally networked world that enables an instant society instant news, instant friends, instant gratification. In the 24/7 instant access society impatience is a virtue, so the marketing slogan goes. Mechanically answering messages and responding automatically to the electronic requests, problems and demands of others is emerging as a hallmark characteristic amongst frequent email users. Worryingly, these traits are how robots are defined! The mark of a human being, however, is the ability to respond rather than react; to make choices rather than being merely a stimulus-response animal (Covey, 1989). In this world of dense connections and immediacy where is the time to think, reflect, and then respond? This paper presents the observational findings of an experiment to (temporarily) withdraw from information distributed via email. The notion of availability rather than access emerged as a key finding that poses some interesting questions for the future of ubiquitous social connectivity. |
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