I don’t hate clearing out my inbox, but I don’t love it either. How about you? Do you let it pile up until you have dozens or hundreds of messages you haven’t looked at yet? Or are you the conscientious type who finishes going through your inbox and taking care of everything before you go to bed? Either way, inboxes can leave you feeling guilty or angry or overburdened.
I enjoy receiving notices from fellow bloggers about a new post. Aside from that, too many random messages start out sounding like something you might want to read. And then, a few lines down, you realize it was just a come-on, and you’ve wasted time figuring that out.
Then there are the messages that maybe you ought to read or at least skim even though they’re boring. Even less fun are the requests for money and the outright scams. In short, clearing out your inbox is not the most pleasant task of the day.
Then, suddenly in January, I started getting something new that I really like. It’s called “On This Day.” Last year I signed up for Microsoft365 which includes OneDrive, and this seems to be one of the perks. They send me photos that were added to my own photo file “on this day” but on another year. Usually, I receive about seven or eight photos each day. Looking at them takes only a few seconds, but it’s always fun.
It’s been fun to see how different the weather has been “on this day” during other years. This year we had only a couple of dustings of snow. I’ve been surprised to see all the snow pictures from other years.
But then, I wondered, why if we had more snow in past years, did the flowers bloom earlier then? We had a lot of sun this January. Shouldn’t our daffodils have bloomed earlier? Maybe, I decided, it’s the lack of our usual amount of rain.
Besides thoughts about snow and flowers, the “on this day” photos have occasioned thoughts about the passage of time.
My grandson is a high school junior now.
Do you clear out your inbox every day? Do you get “On This Day?” Do you look at your old photos on a regular basis?
‘clearing out your inbox is not the most pleasant task of the day.’ I so agree with this. Some emails we do need or are sentimental, and so we might just want to leave our emails there in the inbox. I am the kind who likes to get to my emails as soon as possible. I’d do a clean out and delete what I do not want or need once a month or so. I think keeping on top of emails is important as you can prioritise and getting back to everyone you need to get back becomes much easier.
My sister-in-law, a successful business woman, has always been super efficient. I remember staying at her house years ago and seeing her throw the day’s newspaper in the trash before bed. I know she hadn’t had time to even look at it. I never have read everything in the newspaper, but I would find it hard to throw it away without even looking at it.
“inboxes can leave you feeling guilty or angry or overburdened” – I think you have summarised my feelings, but I do enjoy the messages of friendship that aren’t work, but a pleasure to read.
Years ago I had many penpals and the contrast is stark. Every letter or email a joy to read. Communication is becoming shorter and more succinct. It is sad but things change. That is life, isn’t it?
I quite agree that the on this day reminders of previous years are delightful. I do enjoy them. Mainly they are reminders of past vacations.
Your mention of penpals reminds me of a penpal I had when I was studying Spanish in high school. The teacher assigned a penpal to each of us. Mine was Mirta Cespedes from Santiago de Chile. After we graduated, I lost track of her. I still wonder what happened to Mirta. For some reason, we don’t call regular letter-writing friends penpals, so I guess Mirta was my only penpal. I still have a few old friend I correspond with now and then but more I’ve lost track of.
I wish I did clear out every day as a zero in box would be marvellous, but it’s not something I achieve often. It helps that gmail (which I use) splits stuff into 3 and that helps with the prioritising – but I am terrible for thinking I’ll deal with something when less busy, and then not doing so.
I have Microsoft 365 – do I need to sign up for “On this Day” as it’s not something I see and I think it would be lovely.
I do clear out my inbox everyday. But then, I’m retired. I don’t know how people with busier schedules are able to handle it.
I have no idea why they started sending me “On This Day”. Maybe I clicked on something, or maybe I had enough photos to make it worthwhile. There is much about the tech world that’s a mystery to me, probably because I don’t read all the instructions they send me.
I like the photo of you with your grandson. The smiles are wonderful.
I keep my inbox as close to zero as possible. I’m ruthless about not saving messages, so I go through my inbox almost daily then reply or delete.
I also clear out my inbox every day, although if there’s something I need to consider more carefully, I may leave for the following day. When it gets close to bedtime, I get more ruthless about deleting things I don’t really need to read.
Yes, I’ve been getting that for a couple years now I always enjoy it.
I have no idea why they decided to start sending them to me, but I’m glad they did.
It’s so much fun looking at photos that mark the passage of time ~ like your grandson’s photo in 2011! You both look so happy!
I keep on top of my in-box, most days.
That trip to Baltimore was to visit the aquarium, and we did have a great time. Today he’s with his parents exploring college on the West Coast. For everything there’s a season–something new to see and do, something old to cherish.
I keep Facebook around mostly for the memories of funny things my kid said or did. The rest of my feed is adds, I think.
The Facebook memories are also fun. We’re so used to having all these photos. It makes me think of how different it used to be. The photos of my kids when they were young are on the shelf yellowing in heavy albums.
I clear out every day. Some are easy deletes and some need to be read but it can get overwhelming if I let it go.
I agree, Kate. I also clear out every day.
Nicki, I try to clear out my inbox, because of the deluge of emails I receive. I appreciate the ones announcing blog posts. And I also have On This Day occasionally from OneDrive. It is fun to look at old photos.
I actually feel obligated to clear out my inbox each day before bed. It’s not so easy for everyone, though. My daughters all have very demanding jobs. I sometimes hear them complaining about how full their inboxes are.
I think “On This Day” was a brilliant idea. We could always look at our own photos anytime we wanted, but we don’t. Which photos would we choose, and how long would we spend looking? Too long, I suspect. Besides we have work to do.