There are many modes of communication input - printed material, email inbox, text messages, and various social networks. It seems reasonable to claim that while print input is on the decline, email rules the roost in terms of personal incoming messages. Perhaps for the next generation text messaging is assuming importance and is already a category killer. But I think my 'age-class' is riding the email wave, as letters did a generation ago.
If one accepts this hypothesis, then our personal email inbox list to some degree says something about who we are. One might argue with this by saying, well why not one's refrigerator or one's closet. Firstly, refrigerators and closets are narrow representations - food and clothes and secondly they seem to be mostly shared - so they represent the family more than the individual.
If one accepts this hypothesis, then our personal email inbox list to some degree says something about who we are. One might argue with this by saying, well why not one's refrigerator or one's closet. Firstly, refrigerators and closets are narrow representations - food and clothes and secondly they seem to be mostly shared - so they represent the family more than the individual.
Also, outbox is potentially less representative than an inbox, since some degree the inbox is out of our direct control and represents the world getting back in touch with us. And the outbox is a more controlled projection of our will on the world.
In any case, I am reasonably pleased that my personal email is not spammed too much, and the regular (usually daily morning) entrants in my inbox reasonably represents me and my interests. I looked at a month's worth of emails recently to see what pops in my inbox on a regular basis. I am happy to say that I have been mercifully spared of cash requests from the son of the minister of Kenya or even forwarded jokes. But clearly, am not spared of some irritants like everybody else.
- Family: select members who correspond regularly
- Friends: Nice to see a small collection here that spans 4 decades
- Networks: This is fascinating, since each network has its own flavor, be it interests, centre of gravity or energy
- Vendors: The infamous paper catalog has effectively been replaced by these emails. One might hit the delete button on these as much as we threw catalogs in the trash - but the companies are quite clever about trying to catch your eye. ITunes, Amazon, etc
- Reports: Over the years I have been keeping my eye out for interesting and thought provoking sources of information like for example The Economist. Most of them send weekly if not daily reports.
As I contemplate this, it seems to me that the inbox and its contents are a social mirror of who we are. And perhaps different from what we think of ourselves to be or want ourselves to be. The latter is more in one's outbox perhaps. To reconcile the two - one either adjusts one's behavior or adjusts one's notions of oneself.
Or more wisely, just accepts the dichotomy.
(Maybe one can integrate the two by pioneering the art of Inbox-Outbox Yoga?! :-) )
As I sifted through, I saw the following categories:
- Friends: Nice to see a small collection here that spans 4 decades
- Networks: This is fascinating, since each network has its own flavor, be it interests, centre of gravity or energy
- Vendors: The infamous paper catalog has effectively been replaced by these emails. One might hit the delete button on these as much as we threw catalogs in the trash - but the companies are quite clever about trying to catch your eye. ITunes, Amazon, etc
- Reports: Over the years I have been keeping my eye out for interesting and thought provoking sources of information like for example The Economist. Most of them send weekly if not daily reports.
- Personal affairs: Bills, statements and such.
Or more wisely, just accepts the dichotomy.
(Maybe one can integrate the two by pioneering the art of Inbox-Outbox Yoga?! :-) )
What's in your inbox?
8 comments:
Insomuchas we are to take a deep breath before delving into the daily barrage of emails that we receive, it is a reminder that you have not risen early and done the daily asanas and pranayams! So, one suggestion may be useful - namely, as we go through our daily mail - email and snail mail - to do some slow, deep breathing!
When I read “the outbox is potentially less representative than an inbox, since some degree the inbox is out of our direct control and represents the world getting back in touch with us. And the outbox is a more controlled projection of our will on the world.” I wondered, how is it the case that that which I do is less representative of me than that which is done to me? Yes, it’s not done to me randomly, it’s done to me because of what others think of me to be sure. But then wouldn’t therefore be more accurate to say, my inbox is what others think of me (whether it be my demographic/psychographic profile on the part of a marketing database or a close friend who has a view of me and what interests me) as opposed to what I think of myself; at least as represented by what I consciously produce in my outgoing email?
And then one could dilate on the question. For instance, ‘Which of the two is likelier to be closer to the ‘true’ me, given our strong abilities to lie to ourselves about who we are and the true nature of our motives?’
And then I thought of another formulation that you might find better fits with your point that it better represents me: that is the notion of me as a particle in space versus that of a node in a web of relationships. And this would also fit with current cognitive science and epistemological theories of what’s called, ‘the extended mind’.
According to this theory (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_mind):
The seminal work in the field is The Extended Mind by Andy Clark and David Chalmers. In this paper, Clark and Chalmers present the idea of active externalism (similar to semantic or "content" externalism), in which objects within the environment function as a part of the mind. They argue that it is arbitrary to say that the mind is contained only within the boundaries of the skull. The separation between the mind, the body, and the environment is seen as an unprincipled distinction. Because external objects play a significant role in aiding cognitive processes, the mind and the environment act as a "coupled system". This coupled system can be seen as a complete cognitive system of its own. In this manner, the mind is extended into the external world.
In The Extended Mind, a thought experiment is presented to further illustrate the environment's role in connection to the mind. The fictional characters Otto and Inga are both traveling to a museum simultaneously. Otto has Alzheimer's Disease, and has written all of his directions down in a notebook to serve the function of his memory. Inga is able to recall the internal directions within her memory. In a traditional sense, Inga can be thought to have had a belief as to the location of the museum before consulting her memory. In the same manner, Otto can be said to have held a belief of the location of the museum before consulting his notebook. The argument is that the only difference existing in these two cases is that Inga's memory is being internally processed by the brain, while Otto's memory is being served by the notebook. In other words, Otto's mind has been extended to include the notebook as the source of his memory. The notebook qualifies as such because it is constantly and immediately accessible to Otto, and it is automatically endorsed by him.
Said dramatically, you are most you when you’re with your iPhone and iPad….
More here if interested: How Google Is Making Us Smarter - Humans are "natural-born cyborgs," and the Internet is our giant "extended mind."
I use a service that automagically sorts my personal email into categories. See screenshot below.
It gets about 90% of the stuff right. It's nice because I can review all the amazon/iTunes/cycling deals once a week. All the facebook and linked in friend requests go in a different folder. Etc...
Emails from friends like you don't get filed, so it separates the wheat from the chaff.
Making it more efficient to respond to--or delete--emails.
http://www.otherinbox.com
think it works w more than just yahoo.
It took a couple weeks to get used to how it behaves. After a few months I turned it off... But then I realized how I missed it, and put it back on.
Just a quick though.
When I read “the outbox is potentially less representative than an inbox, since some degree the inbox is out of our direct control and represents the world getting back in touch with us. And the outbox is a more controlled projection of our will on the world.” I wondered, how is it the case that that which I do is less representative of me than that which is done to me? Yes, it’s not done to me randomly, it’s done to me because of what others think of me to be sure. But then wouldn’t therefore be more accurate to say, my inbox is what others think of me (whether it be my demographic/psychographic profile on the part of a marketing database or a close friend who has a view of me and what interests me) as opposed to what I think of myself; at least as represented by what I consciously produce in my outgoing email?
And then one could dilate on the question. For instance, ‘Which of the two is likelier to be closer to the ‘true’ me, given our strong abilities to lie to ourselves about who we are and the true nature of our motives?’
And then I thought of another formulation that you might find better fits with your point that it better represents me: that is the notion of me as a particle in space versus that of a node in a web of relationships. And this would also fit with current cognitive science and epistemological theories of what’s called, ‘the extended mind’.
Said dramatically, you are most you when you’re with your iPhone and iPad….
More here if interested: How Google Is Making Us Smarter - Humans are "natural-born cyborgs," and the Internet is our giant "extended mind."
Tim's points here are very well taken in terms of alternative views of the same issue.
I will spare you all from the details of my work Inbox. As far as my personal email (not the Yahoo group), I may have something of interest.
For the most part, the usual bills and statements (that define our life!), flyers from Amazon, Apple, Staples and hundreds of companies and other boring stuff.
Emails from a retired uncle in India who persistently forwards a lot of stuff from the internet on which he spends most of his time. He also documents his travels and sends nice accounts with pictures (Not bad for a 70 year old man who didn't grow up in the computer era).
Some email automatically get into my Junk email and I avoid them like plague. These comprise of the following:
- Notifications from 'attorneys' representing some bank in Africa/UK, who couldn't wait to give me millions due to some wills written by total strangers.
- 'Advises' to get certain surgeries done on my body which I will never do even in my wildest dreams (Don't want to elaborate).
Of course, I take care to screen for legitimate ones before emptying the Junk.
The things that amuse me the most are the transcribed voice messages by my phone company which get automatically fed into my Inbox. Some examples of how the services clobber up the voice message (especially names of my wife and son) left by the people based on their accents:
Message as transcribed: "Hi, this is John with Dr. Hanson's office. Just to let you know that Ashlyn medicines. Amen. Thank you."
Actual Message: "Hi, this is John with Dr. Hanson's office. Just to let you know that Ashwin's medicines are in. Thank you."
Message as transcribed: "Hey Madonna, this is Mina. We just stop by your place and it and I didn't call you and you're not in I brought somebody fee. I..." - this is from a friend who came by with some Diwali sweets.
Actual Message: "Hey Madhu, this is Mina. We just stop by your place and it and I didn't call you and you're not in I brought some Burfi. I..."
Message as transcribed: "Hello, my divan, how are you bye this is Guy tree. I got the message but you know ..." - this is from a Gujarathi friend.
Actual Message: "Hello, Madhu Ben, how are you? BTW, this is Gayathri. I got the ...."
Message as transcribed: "This is ... calling you on two Tuesday morning. I'm sure you're not allowed back and you know did not know what company they, they must be all getting ready for Jessica. I'm calling to stink. Anyway, give me a call when you get a chance and then I try to call you back. Bye" - this is from my sister-in-law.
Actual Message (For heaven's sake, I didn't know what she was trying to say and I had to listen to the message).
The transcription service write up is indeed hilarious!
I had a similar lost in translation when I was doing PhD. New student joins our group. My supervisor as usual tells him go and see babu in the annex or call him.
So I get a call from him "Hello is this 4301 extension? Yes I say, then he asked Can I speak to Baboon?
It is indeed interesting how life is very interesting and fun with such small stuff!
What's in your inbox?
Friend asketh simple question
What is in your inbox
Puts me in a deliberation
Did I think it would flummox
What was life before this contraption
Carried on with letters on paper
Not many; much less it was in ration
Yet when I got them made me caper
The inbox today has much more item
When you open you get stressed
You think you do not miss them
Yet if there is none you get depressed
It is not me who it is addressed
Yet it takes myself under control
The growing inbox has me boxed
More and more there is no free stroll
Is it me that my inbox reflect
All those souls on that folder mime
As they shape me with incessant effect
Therefore I become my inbox in time
Evolution next of this letter I ponder
Enabling technology getting too fox
facebook twitter taking over
I wonder if it is a pandora's box?
Post a Comment