• by Sean , October 12, 2007

A few weeks ago, when the CEO of U.S. Cellular imposed a new "no-email" rule on Fridays, he thought he was doing his employees a favor. His goal was to get them up and out of their offices and start communicating with each other face-to-face.

Sure, they were allowed to respond to clients, customers, and the like. But internal office communication was forbidden through the e-mail system.

What the U.S. Cellular CEO got wasn't thanks, but an earful. People were pissed.

This got me thinking: how critical is e-mail to everyday life? Sure, it's slowly crept its way into our daily routine, shooting an e-mail here, replying to a simple inquiry there ... and generally keeping in touch with those around us, whether they be 10, or 10,000 miles away.

Then I got a more vivid experience of e-mail detachment: my BlackBerry, which I've come to rely on (right up until I finally am able to justify the purchase of an iPhone) stops downloading my e-mail. Just stops.

Now, I've actually got to login to my email account by sitting down at an Internet terminal, logging in, and doing it the old-fashioned way.

Apparently, I didn't realize that I could go a day or two at a time without having to even log in to my damn e-mail -- it was all delivered right to my pocket via BlackBerry.

So here's a question to you, the reader: surely, you have an e-mail account. And you likely use it often. Which would be more of an inconvenience ... a severed arm, or a severed e-mail account?