Just noticed that post on our Simple Living cousin from Reddit and I was wondering if that was even an option to most of us?
Alas, the OP doesn’t share much context on why and how they did it, how they manage their daily activities without using any email.
I know I could not.
I mean, I can live without social networks (the only one I use being Lemmy, it was reddit before that) but I could not not use email.
I would even go as far as to say that removing email from my toolbox would make my life a more complicated and for what gain?
The OP mention not receiving spam. I don’t see much spam, simply because I use a spam filter. They also mention having better conversations than through email. Sure, I can understand that. But I can also have both without any issue. I never discussed much through email—save maybe in the early 90s, when I started really using email and quickly quit using snail mail in which, back then, people used to heave discussion that could go on for… years. With email I do things like create online accounts and stuff like that. I don’t exchange idea, I don’t even chat much. But while I do use email I can still discuss with people by other means.
Maybe email for me is a bit like the smartphone? I seldom use mine and only for practical purpose.
Like, there is no social, no games, no YT, not even… email is configured on my phone. It’s merely more than a phone (to pass and receive phone calls, I don’t message) with a big screen and the very few apps I’m expected to be able to get access to (passwords, 2FA, finances, IDs), and that’s it. But as limited as my use case is not using that phone would make things uselessly and much more complicated for me.
What about you? Can you imagine going email free?
Going email free would mean going internet free. Without email you cannot have online accounts. Right now practicing simple living includes doing my job for which I need internet and email.
Even in the future when I eventually retire I would still use internet for communication and playing games with the people I love and cannot see often.
So my version of simple life includes internet and email.
So my version of simple life includes internet and email.
Agreed. If things were to drastically change (say we’re in a new global war and/or there is some major energy/climate crisis making online activities a luxury) I should be able to not use the Internet, but all things being equal I don’t think it would be reasonable to remove Internet (and the email) from my live and it would not make it simpler. Curious to see if other may go in the same direction as the OP on Reddit, though.
OP says that people just call them instead. Sounds they’re just swapping one means of comms for another. I don’t know about other people but I don’t consider email to be a stressor, in fact it’s the opposite.
I don’t know about other people but I don’t consider email to be a stressor, in fact it’s the opposite.
It is not for me either:
- spam is dealt with through relay emails, and spam filters. So it rarely is a bother.
- Unlike with say SMS and messages and, obviously, voice calls it’s easier to take time before replying to an email. Which also helps in not dealing with anything under stressful situation, anger,emotion, whatever. Like we used to be able to do with snail mail. Its slowness impacted they way we were… angry or happy, about anything said.
- It’s also easier to archive/search old emails, which help in building a trustworthy archive of previous exchange.
That said, like with message and phone calls and even more so with voice messages (I’m old enough to remember tape message recorders), I had to tell more than a few people I was not a their service, nor at the service of my device and them living &a message of some sort implied no quick reply on my part, if any reply at all. As many would get angry if did not get what they expected. But the stress there, was not because of the email, or the voice message, or SMS, it was because of the interaction I had with these persons. Those who refused to understand how I wanted communication to work between us, well either they quickly were forced to realize I was not useful to them and they quit bothering me, or I had push them towards the exit door. Including some family members. Doing that was so freeing, years later I still have zero regret.
Email is required for finding jobs, resetting passwords, unless I go completely without anything electronic, then it’s impossible for me to go completely email free. However I have such fucking little in my email anyways, very aggressive spam filters, not subscribed to any email newsletters or anything, just a tool for other websites to reset passwords and getting notifications from my health provider and other essentials, like job hunting.
Email is required for finding jobs, resetting passwords, unless I go completely without anything electronic, then it’s impossible for me to go completely email free
Indeed. That said, we should still be able to imagine a world without it, since it’s a possibility. I do really wonder how many people would go to that far as to remove email from their live, though. To jump back to my other comment, email itself is probably not even that costly energy wise and can be done completely off grid when not used (it’s a whole story the way we think we need/we got used to be able to access it at any time and instantly ;)
