A World Without Email
A review of

A World Without Email

Reimagining Work in an Age of Communication Overload

Cal NewportPortfolio • 2021

Stop Emailing

by David Meyer

Bestseller and computer science professor Cal Newport thinks email is bad for you and your productivity.

Knowledge workers can sift through as many as 126 emails per day and this deluge impairs their ability to do their jobs, argues computer science professor Cal Newport. His thesis is that email not only makes people less productive, it makes them miserable. Drawing from neuroscience studies, evolutionary psychology and real-world case studies, Newport urges a conscious shift from the “hyperactive hive mind” to a more sustainable, minimalist mind-set.

Productivity

The incessant flow of emails to and from knowledge workers’ inboxes reduces productivity while forcing their brains to process irrelevant information. Email complicates conversations by involving too many people and inundating workers with redundant messages. 


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