Why I’m On a Mission to End Reply-All!

You receive an email. It’s not directed at you and there is no action you need to take. You are copied, as well as 20 other people. Then it starts. One person replies all, then another, and another. Next thing you know, you have 20+ emails from this chain that has nothing to do with you. Yet, you have no control to make it stop, because you know that if you reply-all with “please remove me from this email chain” it will just start another chain!  

Does this scenario sound familiar? It happens all the time to many of us, but we’ve become conditioned to simply delete these emails and deal with the irritation. In fact, it wasn’t until I went on vacation and completely disconnected that I realized how bad it has gotten when I fired up my email inbox and it was jam-packed full of reply-all emails. 

The dreaded reply-all email chain has become an unfortunate side-effect of our tech-entrenched lives. Technology does a lot to make our work and lives easier and more convenient, but it can also have a negative impact on our well-being. Considering the average knowledge worker gets over 100 emails a day (many, I’m sure, are reply-all emails) it’s no wonder that email anxiety has become a phenomenon that many of us experience on a daily basis. That’s why I’m on a mission to end reply-all and take back control of my inbox. And I want to help others do the same! 

Here are 4 ways to send fewer reply-all emails:

Email has become so ingrained in our lives that we often use it without even thinking about it. There have been times when I feel like my inbox is controlling me, instead of the other way around. It’s time to take back control of our inboxes and end the chaos of reply-all. Join me in building better email habits and remember that technology itself is neither good nor bad, it all comes down to how you use it!