This link has been bookmarked by 38 people . It was first bookmarked on 26 Sep 2006, by a77ila.
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02 Feb 10
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19 Sep 08
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05 Sep 08
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... Checking email is a behaviour that has variable interval reinforcement. Sometimes, but not everytime, the behaviour produces a reward. Everyone loves to get an email from a friend, or some good news, or even an amusing web link. Sometimes checking your email will get you one of these rewards. And because you can never tell which time you check will produce the reward, checking all the time is reinforced, even if most of the time checking your email turns out to have been pointless. You still check because you never know when the reward will come. I have just proved to myself how automatic my email checking behaviour has become. I am writing this in a hotel room which doesn't have internet access. When sorting through my email (you don't need a connection to delete email you've replied to, or are never going to reply to) I still hit the 'check mail' button at the rest points of the read-consider-delete cycle I am performing. My reflective self knows that there is no internet connection, so there is no way in hell I'm going to have new email - but that knowledge doesn't filter down to the part of me hitting the 'check email' button. The habit, engrained in my mind by operant conditioning, is isolated from conscious knowledge, and in part from deliberate control; it can start without me thinking about it or even me wanting it to. ... If a behaviour isn't rewarded then it will gradually disappear. The problem is that we don't want to remove the reward (email), so we need, instead, to weaken the strength of the link between the action and the reward. A simple delay would do this - imagine a five minute delay between hitting the check email button and getting new email. A delay is doubly-effective because the longer the delay the more likely you are to have email and so the more consistent the reward will be - and hence the less strong its reinforcing effect (I can see this is action when I go away for a week and check my email when I come back. I mi
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... Checking email is a behaviour that has variable interval reinforcement. Sometimes, but not everytime, the behaviour produces a reward. Everyone loves to get an email from a friend, or some good news, or even an amusing web link. Sometimes checking your email will get you one of these rewards. And because you can never tell which time you check will produce the reward, checking all the time is reinforced, even if most of the time checking your email turns out to have been pointless. You still check because you never know when the reward will come. I have just proved to myself how automatic my email checking behaviour has become. I am writing this in a hotel room which doesn't have internet access. When sorting through my email (you don't need a connection to delete email you've replied to, or are never going to reply to) I still hit the 'check mail' button at the rest points of the read-consider-delete cycle I am performing. My reflective self knows that there is no internet connection, so there is no way in hell I'm going to have new email - but that knowledge doesn't filter down to the part of me hitting the 'check email' button. The habit, engrained in my mind by operant conditioning, is isolated from conscious knowledge, and in part from deliberate control; it can start without me thinking about it or even me wanting it to. ... If a behaviour isn't rewarded then it will gradually disappear. The problem is that we don't want to remove the reward (email), so we need, instead, to weaken the strength of the link between the action and the reward. A simple delay would do this - imagine a five minute delay between hitting the check email button and getting new email. A delay is doubly-effective because the longer the delay the more likely you are to have email and so the more consistent the reward will be - and hence the less strong its reinforcing effect (I can see this is action when I go away for a week and check my email when I come back. I mi
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02 Mar 08
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24 Nov 07
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05 Aug 07
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I have a free mini-ebook, End Email Addiction, available for download at http://www.businesstransformed.com/end email addiction.pdf
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27 Apr 07
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25 Apr 07
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24 Mar 07
Chris TagalotEmail is addictive because it is a variable-interval reinforcement schedule
behavior productivity addiction psychology perception performance email computer dacsp
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21 Dec 06
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06 Nov 06
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16 Oct 06
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Why email is addictive (and what to do about it):
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15 Oct 06
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02 Oct 06
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30 Sep 06
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28 Sep 06
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27 Sep 06
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26 Sep 06
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