Inbox Fever

There are two kinds people in the world, those who meticulously keep their email inbox and those who let thousands of unread ones pile up:

Still, the chasm between these groups seems too wide to be just about technology. The icky feeling I get when I catch a glimpse of someone’s inbox junkyard of unread emails is the same one I get when I see the pile of magazines I have yet to read, or when I know there’s an errand that needs running—the itch isn’t constrained to technology. My email theory is really just a corollary of another, more expansive pop philosophy: Muppet Theory, proposed by Dahlia Lithwick, a writer at Slate. Under Lithwick’s classification, everyone is either a Chaos Muppet (“out-of-control, emotional, volatile”) or an Order Muppet (“neurotic, highly-regimented, averse to surprises”).

My itch is definitely constrained to email - in every other part of my life I am the Chaos Muppet, but when it comes to my inbox I'm a fucking Nazi with keeping that shit straight. I see a number/notification pop up I'm like goddam Batman when the commish sends the signal: I'm on it!