Declare freedom from electronic tethers

Our idea: Set aside one day a week and focus on person-to-person interaction

Let us know what you think about our idea of declaring a day of electronic messages. If you try it, how many dimes did you set aside? How was your day? Better? Or not? Direct your comments to ideaforum@azstarnet.com or letters@ azstarnet.com with "Idea Forum" in the subject line. Please limit your letter to 150 words. Include your full name, occupation, phone number and address. We use the phone number and address for verification only; they won't be published. You can also mail a response to P.O. Box 26807, Tucson, AZ 85726-6807.

In the spirit of Independence Day, let us declare (for just one day a week) our freedom from e-mail. Text messages, too. Begone!

If you had a dime for every e-mail or text message you looked at or sent every day, how flush would you be? If you could give that money to the Community Food Bank, how much fear, malnutrition and illness could you help avert?

That's our idea this week and every week: Take a break one day a week from e-mail and text messaging, set aside $1 or $10 or $20, based on the volume of messages you handle and generate, for your favorite local cause and spend the newly freed time — now, brace yourself, because this is radical — actually speaking face-to-face with coworkers or on the telephone with those who aren't within face distance.

Think of what you'll be sparing yourself.

According to the Radicati Group, Inc., a Palo Alto, Calif.-based company that studies the markets for e-mail, wireless technologies and Web services, 78 percent of worldwide e-mail this year will be spam, though only 56 percent of the spam traffic will actually ooze into mailboxes through network or spam filters.

The same group reports that there are 2 billion installed electronic mail boxes this year.

But the biggest growth is in instant messaging, Radicati reported on its Web site: It's expected to balloon from 1.2 billion installed systems this year to 1.9 billion in 2012.

No wonder you're worried about being out of the loop — but you needn't be.

First, you can to stand to wait a day to read the forwarded jokes from your college roommate and that former coworker in St. Louis.

Second, you can cover work requirements and family emergencies by sending an e-mail in advance announcing that you'll be off-line for the day; encourage correspondents to stop by your office and let them know how to reach you by phone. Be sure to program your e-mail to respond automatically to each incoming with a note repeating that you're off-line for the day, and urging the writer to either wait a day for you to read their e-mail, or to knock on your door or pick up the telephone if they need you.

A break from all that beeping, flashing and "Cn U rd ths? : -)" foolishness sounds attractive. Like sleeping in a quiet room. Or conversing with a person whose eyes you can see.

In "When What You Type Isn't What They Read," a 2004 article in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, authors Nicholas Epley and Justin Kruger warned that using e-mail can have unexpected costs. Their studies suggested that preconceived ideas about intelligence, sincerity and such are more likely to persist when you relate by e-mail instead of over the telephone.

Want them to get to know you? Pick up the phone, walk over to their cubicle.

Patricia Wallace in "The Psychology of the Internet," describes managing your impression on the Internet as "like navigating white water with two-by-fours for oars. Your impression management toolkit is strangely devoid of the tools most familiar to you."

The cues "people use to form some impression of your warmth are mainly nonverbal," she writes. "Your facial expression ... Your vocal pattern, body posture, gestures, and eye contact ..."

Not an issue, you're thinking: Most of the people with whom I e-mail with know me. OK, but do they really understand how much you appreciate the job they completed? Do they really know how disappointed you are by a botched job? Or are they reading anger where you meant to convey patience and understanding? Sarcasm where you meant to make light?

The point is, if you take a day every week to actually relate in person or on the phone with the people you work with, everyone will feel better. You will all find you've missed the human interaction. You will accomplish more, and more efficiently. You will learn new things about one another that will help you lead or follow or cooperate more smoothly. You will spend less time squinting into a computer screen.

Try it, only one day a week. Then let us know what you think.

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