New research reveals how misunderstanding email can make us nervous wrecks
in work and ruin our personal lives due to the phenomenon of PPMT (Pre and Post
Mail Tension).
Half (52%) of the 26,000 email users surveyed struggled to interpret personal
emails leading to arguments and relationship break-ups. And a massive 61% of
workers are worried about having their private messages leaked out and going
global – let alone around the office.
In one of the biggest-ever surveys of it’s kind, three-quarters of people questioned by Yahoo! Mail admitted to using email in an attempt to impress people they fancy. Women even prefer to make the first contact with those they fancy by email, although men prefer to pick up the phone and call before getting involved in email flirting.
Yahoo! Mail’s research also reveals ‘inbox expectations’ can lead to trouble and time wasting as we get preoccupied with what the recipient does – or doesn’t do – after we click ‘send’.
This includes:
Two thirds (64%) of us have problems concentrating if we are waiting for an email reply from someone we fancy
More than half (51%) of us waste time constantly checking and rechecking our email for a reply – almost the same number (52%) admit they ‘hate’ waiting for a response.
Rather than write a straightforward reply over a third (35%) of us will stall what we are doing as we struggle and agonise over a witty reply to impress
When we do eventually get a reply, the troubles have only just begun. Reading too much into an email has led to over half of us misinterpreting the tone or content of an email. Of those, 12% have had an argument with a friend while 2% have even broken up with a partner over email misinterpretation.
Our intimate chats can also get us into trouble elsewhere. A quarter of us (28%) live in fear of personal emails being sent to the boss by mistake, while a third are afraid of getting caught short by the Claire Swires effect – a friend forwarding personal emails from a work address and the contents spreading like wildfire online.
People in the East Midlands are most likely to make initial contact with someone they fancy via email (40%). People in the North West are most likely to use SMS (27%)
Londoners find it most difficult to think of a witty reply in response to an email from someone they fancy (36%). People in NE England worry the most about private emails being seen by other people (33%)
Emailers in the Wales are obsessive about constantly checking their email to see if someone they fancy sent them a reply (83%). Emailers in the SW have the worst tempers, a quarter admitted they get angry or upset if the person they fancy doesn’t send them a reply
Workers from the West Midlands (63% ) and Scotland (62%) live in most fear of their IT dept reading their personal mail. Workers in the SW are most fearful about colleagues tapping into their emails while they are away from their desks
15% of people in the South West would be prepared to give up their mobile phones to keep email.
28% of Londoners would give up chocolate