"You've Got E-Mail!" ... Shall I Deal With It Now? Electronic Mail From the Recipient's Perspective

This article considers the nature of e-mail from the recipient’s perspective—what the seeminglyfreeandeasycommunicationreallycosts therecipient. Informationgathered by electronic monitoring software is shown to be at odds with the results of an online survey of e-mail users’ perceptions of their e-mail experience—users drastically underestimate the disruptive effects of e-mail. The conclusion is that the constant monitoring of e-mail actually reduces productivity and that there is a need for increased power, control,andawarenessonthepartof thee-mail recipient toensure thate-mail remainsatool rather than a tyrant. It is necesssary to alert the user of the true cost of e-mail alerts.