Tips for a Manageable Email Inbox

Peeking into a student's backpack or dorm room used to be a good indicator of his organizational skills. But these days a student's email inbox may be more revealing than the way he manages his paper load. Information and documents are increasingly distributed to students via email instead of on paper, and many students aren't able to stay on top of their electronic clutter. We considered tips from organizational coach K.J. McCorry, founder of an environmentally-focused organizational consulting business called Eco-Officiency, and did some of our own brainstorming as well, to come up with this advice for students (and, just maybe, parents, too):

• Reduce: An easy way to combat inbox overflow is to get fewer emails, which can be accomplished in a few ways. First, set up a "dummy" email account and use it for all online purchases and other occasions when you must share your email address with an unimportant third party. This way, if your email address is shared, only your dummy account's inbox will fill up. Second, unsubscribe from solicitations. They may be hard to see, but "unsubscribe" links should be at the bottom of all marketing emails. Don't believe the myth that opening sales emails will cause you to receive more of them; get yourself off all of those lists. 

• Set-up for success: Nearly all email platforms allow users to create folders. We suggest that students create one folder for each class (chemistry, English, etc.), one for their personal communications, and one for each extra-curricular activity (band, soccer, etc.) in which they are involved. It may sound unattainable, but hear us out: the goal should be to have zero emails in one's inbox because they've all be placed in the right folders.

• Order of Operations: McCorry recommends checking email about five times a day; a lot more or less than that negatively impacts productivity. Each time a student signs on, McCorry suggests that they first delete all spam and irrelevant messages. Second, they should answer all emails that require only a quick response. Follow the three R's here: Read, Respond, Remove. By skimming quickie emails, jotting a short response ("We're meeting on the second floor of the library. Don't forget to bring notecards!") and dragging these messages to the right folder, inboxes will seem less intimidating in no time.

• Just Do It (Now): McCorry's steps should leave only a few emails that require careful reading and/or a thoughtful response in a student's inbox. This is great news because it means the important stuff won't get lost in a queue of other messages. McCorry suggests taking care of those time-consuming responses ASAP to avoid creating a backlog in one's inbox. Remember, waiting to respond means having to reread the email later before typing a reply, which is a big waste of time. Instead, students should bite the bullet and respond immediately while the email's contents are still fresh.

There's no single way to manage email, but we hope these tips will help. They certainly work for us!

photo credit: EUNOIA via FlickrCC

Monitoring Screen Time

Most parents agree that kids need some degree of monitoring when it comes to technology. Whether it’s time limits on games, supervision when using social networking sites, or established bans on some sites until kids are old enough, protective measures are important to keep kids safe. But many parents struggle to find the time to hover over kids as they hover over screens. Luckily, there’s a techy solution for this techy problem: enter parental control software.

Daniel X. O'Neil

There are a multitude of options available when it comes to this sort of software, and parents must first decide what’s right for their families. Do they want to block certain sites from kids altogether? Limit the amount of time spent on sites? Monitor where their kids spend time? Here are some of the best options out there:

Kids Watch Time Management 6.5: This highly reviewed software allows parents to establish time limits for certain types of sites and block others altogether. The software is highly customizable and will send an email detailing the activity of each registered account user (i.e. your kids) daily, weekly, or monthly, prompting busy parents to remember to glance over their kids’ computer records. For more information, check out this review.

iDetective: Download iDetective to keep tabs on youngsters’ use of tablets (Mac or PC) to get detailed reports and summaries on the way a remote computer is being used. iDetective can even allow a parent to send messages to the device from another computer. Imagine the look on your child’s face when “I thought we agreed no Minecraft after 8:00…” pops up in the middle of his game!

StayFocused: This Google Chrome plug-in restricts time for specific websites or certain types of websites. Once a user has used up all the time allotted, the plug-in will block the site for the rest of the day. StayFocused goes beyond the basics to give clever options, like blocking all subdomains (i.e. all social media) or specific in-page content (i.e. all videos).

And remember, there are no-tech solutions that can help kids manage their screen habits, too.

• Some parents choose to keep a record of their children’s email and social media passwords so as to monitor their accounts. Expert advice is split on this policy: some advocate it, while others view it as an unforgivable violation of a child’s privacy, so be sure you know where you stand before taking action.
• Establish areas of the house in which technology is not welcome (like the dining room, perhaps) to make room for real (what’s-it-called?) conversation. Another tack: forbid technology in all but certain rooms in your home. Remember that you have to abide by your own laws, however, so don’t make changes you’re not prepared to live with!
• We’ve saved the best for last: Talk to kids about their online interactions. It could get uncomfortable, but they might learn something valuable. Discuss the choices made by their friends on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Raise questions like, “What do you think she’s trying to communicate by posting a picture like that?”, “What reaction do you think he’s hoping that post will get?”, or “How do you think this status message could backfire?” For an interesting take on opaque social networking, check out one mom’s policy on keeping her teenage boys, and their friends, in check.

Online Productivity Monitors Can Help Find Lost Time

Do you ever wonder where your time goes? Two productivity monitors that track your online activities, Slife and Rescue Time, can tell you exactly.

Both function similarly, sitting quietly in the background and keeping track of every site you visit and how much time you spend there. But each can take a more active role if you choose, limiting the time you spend in particular areas such as news, email, and games. (You can categorize sites yourself.) You can generate reports for your own activity and for the time your family members -- including your children -- spend online. These reports can plot the data by hour, day, and week. You can set time goals (i.e. I will spend a minimum of three hours doing online research each day,” or “I will spend no more than 15 minutes answering email,”) or, in cases of extreme addiction, completely block distracting sites from your family members or from yourself.

Each service can be downloaded for a small fee, but if time really is money, the cost may be worth it.

Photo: Gary Cycles / Creative Commons