On The Unsubcribing of Mail

As part of the exercise of being input deprived, I have finally organized m e-mail box

This has been a task which has been long been the bane of my existence.  My e-mail box had become a dumping ground of items that I needed to save and items that I intended to get to at some point in time - I was harboring over 800 unread e-mails there.  But with the deprivation of input and a growing need to make my life more streamlined finally compelled me after two years to address the issue.

I was gentle with myself, of course.  No immediate wholesale throwing away of e-mails:  first organization of those things I thought I needed (knowing I will probably still delete them as well), then the slow process of eliminating the rest, up to and including reaching the point of just deleting unread things I would never realistically get to.

As part of this process, I finally began to unsubscribe from e-mails in an attempt to cut down on the total input of my e-mails.

The process of unsubscribing, though, is not as straightforward as I has hoped.

There are a great deal of ways to unsubscribe.  For some, it is is simply clicking the "unsubscribe" link and being redirected to a page which essentially says "done".  For others, it is clicking the link to have to enter your e-mail or select a series of what you would you like to be excluded from.  And for some notable sites, it is actually having to re-enter your information to be excluded in the future.

The time frame was also a surprise to me.  For most, it was listed as immediate.  But for a few - a few who somehow bill themselves as being interested in privacy and independence - the listing was "48-72 hours".  Not at all impressive in a world of high speed technology.

What has this experience taught me?

1)  There is no reason for e-mails to build up.  If you are not going to deal with it today, delete it.
2)  There is no particularly good reason to sign up for any recurring e-mail unless it mets a need which you feel is important.  Really important.  Otherwise, see item 1).
3)  The policy on how to extract yourself from something should tell you a great deal of what they consider you and the value of your time to truly be.