Archive for the ‘General’ Category
April 8th, 2010 | 
Author: Question 1) What is Email?
Answer: “Email” is short for “electronic mail” (yes, email is an official English word that requires no hyphen). Email is like an old fashioned letter but in electronic format sent from one computer to another. There is no going to the metal mailbox down the road, no envelopes to address and stamps to lick, yet email very much resembles the classic post office mail process. Most importantly: the email recipient does not have to be at their computer for an email to successfully send. Recipients retrieve their email on their own time. Because of this lag between sending and receiving, email is called “non-real time” or “asynchronous time” messaging.
Question 2) What is Instant Messaging (“IM”)
Answer: Unlike email, instant messaging is a real-time messaging format. IM is really a specialized form of ‘chat’ between people who know each other. Both IM users must be online at the same time for IM to fully work. IM is not as popular as email, but it is popular amongst teenagers and people in office places that allow instant messaging.
Question 3) What is Chat?
Answer: A chat is a real time online conversation between many computer users. All participants must be in front of their computer at the same time. The chat takes place in a “chat room”, a virtual online room also called a channel. Users type their messages, and their messages appear on the monitor as text entries that scroll many screens deep. Anywhere from 2 to 200 people can be in a chat room. They can freely send, receive and reply to messages from many chat users simultaneously. It is like instant messaging, but with more than two people, fast typing, fast scrolling screens, and most of the people are strangers to each other. Chat used to be very popular in the late 1990′s, but has fallen out of vogue lately. Fewer and fewer people use chat; instead, instant messaging and discussion forums are far more popular in 2007.
Question 4) What is a Discussion Forum?
Answer: discussion forums are really a slow-motion form of chat. Forums are designed to build online communities of people with similar interests. Also known as a “discussion group”, “board” or “newsgroup”, a forum is an asynchronous service where you can trade non-instant messages with other members. The other members reply on their own schedule, and do not need to be present while you are sending. Every forum is also dedicated to some specific community or subject, such as travel, gardening, motorcycles, vintage cars, cooking, social issues, music artists, and more. Forums are very popular, and are renowned for being quite addictive because they put you in touch with many similar-minded people.
Question 5) What is an Email List?
Answer: a “mailing list” is a list of email subscribers who choose to receive regular broadcast email on specific topics. It is primarily used to distribute current news, newsletters, hurricane alerts, weather forecasts, product update notifications, and other information. While some mailing lists have daily broadcasts, many days or even weeks could go by between broadcasts. Examples of mailing lists would be: when a store releases new products or has new sales, when a music artists is going to tour in your city, or when a chronic pain research group has medical news to release.
News of a recent study has been making the rounds, showing that email is the top cause of stress in most workers’ lives, and that people are increasingly addicted to checking email constantly, two facts that are not surprising to many web workers.
Email is a constant demand on our attention, a constant burden on our minds, and a constant task that must be completed, over and over again, or else.
And yet, it is possible to get the stress of email down to a manageable level without declaring email bankruptcy.
While we’ve covered some great ways to reduce stress before, let’s look specifically at a few different ways to manage email stress, so that you can keep your calm in the middle of the chaos.
This isn’t a step-by-step guide, but some ideas you can choose from.
1. Don’t respond. There are some emails you need to respond to, that are important, and then there are the vast majority that really don’t need a response. As harsh as this may sound, consider deleting the majority of your emails. Jokes and chain mail from friends and family, cc’d emails and emails that just contain FYI info, invitations you’ll probably never get to, emails that say thank you, unsolicited offers, emails without a clear request … the list of emails that never need a response can go on and on. It takes a little while to be able to make quick decisions on which need response, but it’s a useful skill. Instead, delete most, and mark a few for response when you have time.
2. Wean from frequent checking. Perhaps the biggest cause of email stress is the need to check every few minutes (and yes, many people do this). The truth is, although we feel that need, it’s not really a need. It’s an urge. And it’s a learned response that can be unlearned. Just wean yourself slowly. Turn off your email notifier, and double the time in between email checking — if you check every 5 minutes now, try every 10 instead. Then every 20, and so on, until you get to your desired level. Very, very few people need to check more than once an hour, and most of us don’t even need that level of frequency. Once you’ve weaned yourself from constant checking, you’ve made huge strides towards a less stressful life.
