According to a study in the UK, one in ten people never delete their emails. The study claims that these people are “digital hoarders” who use their email inboxes to record their lives. Are you one of these people?
Nowadays, typical webmail services like Hotmail and Gmail offer huge amounts of email storage as an incentive to use their service. Why delete email messages when you have an enormous inbox and a free email account? A survey conducted on behalf of Microsoft’s Hotmail found that 38% of users admitted that their Hotmail inbox was “a practical means of maintaining a digital record.” Wow. One in ten of those surveyed stated that they never deleted their emails so they could “hold on to memories.” Microsoft has even estimated that the average inbox will receive 14,600 emails in 2012, which can include “greymail” such as newsletters, deals, and updates. Newsletters have, in fact, grown by 300% in the last 12 months.
Lets see what a Psychologist has to say about this. “While some consumers will be able to relate to these habits, whether it’s the desire to hoard things for sentimental reasons or just the practicality of keeping records, we all have a unique way of managing our digital lives. For anyone looking to improve how they manage their life online they first need to look at their everyday habits to understand what changes need to be made,” Psychologist Jenni Trent Hughes believes.
Could there be a serious issue with offering huge amounts of email storage or are some of us just plain lazy to delete or sort through our email?
