Give A Hoot, Don't Email Pollute

That's Woodsy Owl.  Woodsy has been USDA Forest Service's environmental champion since          1970, and is most recognized for his wise request, "Give a          hoot. Don't Pollute."   That was before we used email all the time and we had to deal with the amount of information we deal with daily.   That was probably before some of you who may be reading this were born. 

I'm thinking of a piece I read called "Eight Steps To Thriving on Information Load" that I read on Jack Vinson's blog.  The original article was by Ross Dawson. (Who did a fascinating analysis of how his article was linked around various blogs.  He mentions that the article is ten years old, but still relevant.  That made me think of a book I read by David Shenk ten years ago called Data Smog.   

Shenk had a set of recommendations for dealing with information overload.   I remember one that said, "Give a Hoot, Don't Data Pollute" and the gist was don't reply to emails with "thank you" or useless chit chat.  It is like littering.    I used to disagree in the days before I had to deal with as much email as I do now.  Now, I wholeheartedly agree!

So, I'm trying to train myself in my email correspondence not reply with polite thanks yous, etc.  I'm trying to not to pollute the email stream.  What about you?

Comments

[jackvinson]

Nice. This reminds me of something else I've seen recently - possibly a video or slideshare - having to do with the history of email. Essentially: it used to be a toy for those in-the-know. Now it swamps everyone to the point that "kids these days" treat it with as much interest as the pile of postal mail sitting on the counter.