Would you like a day without e-mail?

A recent Wall Street Journal article highlights employer practices of banning e-mails on Friday or weekends. The average number of e-mails sent a day is projected to go up to 47% per employee in 2007. About 1/3 of those surveys felt stressed by heavy e-mail volume. There are users who check e-mail 30 to 40 times an hour.

As the article points out, no e-mail Fridays would promote more "face time" between employees. That is obviously something on the decline in society with the increased use of e-mail, text messages, blackberries/smartphones, twitter (ok, maybe that last one isn't true), and the like. I bet everyone has that guy (or gal) in the office who either e-mails you or calls you from the next cube over. Or, what I think is even worse, across the room within your line of vision. If you think I am kidding, I have seen a coworker pick up his cell phone and call someone at the other end of a large room...

Although I own a smartphone (Treo 700p), I am occasionally out of contact with my e-mail and I'm ok with that. I definitely do not send 30 e-mails a day. Then again, while waiting in the airport security line this morning at 5:30 AM, everyone around me had their blackberries out as if they had been receiving e-mails for the last several hours. Somehow, I doubt it.

Well, hopefully, if people become worse at personal interaction, at least they may become better writers??

I also wonder if facebook, linkedin, twitter, and other such social networking will help the e-mail problem or just make it worse? They could be an alternative and decrease e-mail traffic or they could just be another way to communicate and therefore another thing to check all the time...