Just a few days ago, MG Siegler, blogger on TechCrunch, tweeted, using his twitter name @parislemon:

"It's the times that I travel that I really, fully realize that answering email could be a fulltime job"

"What if I were to channel my inner Peter Gibbons, and just stop responding to it (email) entirely?"

"I honestly do not think I'd miss much. People would figure out other ways to get stuff to me if absolutely necessary. Or I'd reach out"

"My life would be at least 30% better. Maybe more like 50%"

A Twitter Frenzy Ensued

with responses varying from total support of his sentiment, to total outrage.

He later blogged on TechCrunch in an article called 'I'm Quitting Email', that for the rest of the month, he was not going to respond to any emails. None. "I'll simply set up an auto-responder along the lines of "No longer responding to email, if you need me, you'll figure out a way".

I love the fact that MG brought this issue up for debate again. And I really enjoyed reading his train of thought. As a blogger myself, I totally understand the need quite often to have a clear head and uninterrupted time to sit, think and write. But I don't love this particular solution. Surely, by totally ignoring emails, the problem (which as I see it, is Information Overload) is just being swept under the carpet?

A Fireman Who's Giving Up Water

Also, email really is a great channel to receive articles and papers that can often inspire your next piece of work. My favourite response to MG's comments reads: "Mitch Fournier · Everything at TruthTruthLie.me
A blogger who no longer want to hear from the people who are the reason for his job. Well done. BTW, I'm a fireman who's giving up water."

And no matter what your job is, isn't it always going to be a fact of life that you need to stay on top of your correspondence? There is no quick fix solution here. But there are a few things you can do to make life a bit easier.

Take the Pressure off:

• Never check email first thing in the day, you'll get railroaded by other people's agendas, away from your own goals
• Use folders to auto-file emails like those from Twitter and Facebook that really clog up your inbox
• Move items into a 'reading' folder if they are FYI and don't require any action eg whitepapers
• Have an email-free day once a week
• Don't send unnecessary emails, and ask your colleagues to do the same for you

It's all about the bigger picture here. Drop email and use Twitter or Facebook instead? The problem will still exist, just on a different medium. Let's instead manage our inboxes better, and think before you click that Send button.

This article was written by Valerie Redmond, co-founder of RWorks.com. I can be followed on twitter @rworker, or check out the RWorks Facebook page, or....

email at vredmond@rworks.com!! (I couldn't resist that one)