What does an empty inbox look like to you? Maybe it’s Inbox Zero. Maybe it’s an empty tray on your desk. Maybe it’s hard to picture at all. Can you imagine an empty inbox? Or have you forgotten how that used to feel? Perhaps you give zero thoughts to all those messages waiting for you on your phone. At least, zero conscious thoughts. How much of your unconscious processing power goes to stressing about those emails? Do you remember the last time your mind felt free to relax? To truly relax?

Our email clients give us far too little context. The purely commercial mail delivered by the post office looks like commercial mail. The official mail that comes in envelopes looks like official mail, even if spam apes it. When all we can see are subject lines, though, it’s a marvel that we can tell any of them apart. That makes separating the serious from the spurious all the more important.

What can you unsubscribe from today? Where does the FOMO feel strongest? How often have you taken advantages of those “special” offers that fill your inbox without relent? Why not try unsubscribing from as many newsletters and other updates as you can? You can keep a record of what’s worth checking on yourself. And if you wouldn’t go to the trouble of visiting a website over reading an email, how much could that missive have been worth in the first place? Besides, you can always resubscribe. Wouldn’t you rather read emails from your friends anyway?