When the broadcast program "Johnjay & Rich Show" discussed the number of "unread emails" in the inbox one day, the host "unread emails" revealed that his email had more than 7,000 emails, which surprised other host groups as soon as this came out. In this era of information explosion, modern people like the strongman are the target groups that the concept of Inbox Zero hopes to provide assistance.

Professionals in certain industries receive a large amount of emails due to their work nature. Column writer Melissa Pandika revealed that a few days ago, a colleague saw her pen screen and saw that the red numbers that were not read in the inbox were blocked by nearly 80,000 yuan, and he couldn't help but be surprised. Another colleague said that with such a huge amount of "unread emails", Pandika's mental health must have been negatively affected in his potential consciousness.

Tobian's customers include film companies, TV programs, etc. For her, on average, there are about 400 to 600 emails related to business every day. Due to her busy work, she had a while since she had not checked her private email. When she logged in to check later, the cumulative amount of "Unread email" had exceeded 20,000.

Merlin Mann, an American writer who specializes in studying how to improve work efficiency, introduced the concept of "zero incoming folders" when he accepted Google's invitation to make a performance in 2007, encouraging the public to process unread emails from email incoming folders to the remaining zero. Since Mann's concept was born, there have been various different derivative concepts, including "zero intake" that can reduce the anxiety of modern people and make work performance more efficient.

• Opponents' utility is highly praised

Some activists who strive to adhere to the "zero incoming" concept have said with their personal experience that when the incoming box is not read in a state of clean sealing, a "pure joy" appears in their hearts. Opponents of this theory criticized that the goal of "zero intake" conflicts with the original life, and its utility has been greatly exaggerated, and it is "silly" from the perspective of time management.

In fact, the "zero incoming" advocated by Mann is not just the surface level of reading the mailbox incoming emails, but a deeper exploration of how much effort it costs to emails. In other words, whether you are worried about checking emails or other message notifications in your daily life regardless of anything you are dealing with. The core of the concept of "zero intake" is to explore this sense of anxiety among modern people and reduce anxiety.

Interestingly, some people have a large number of "unread emails" and are actually feeling uneasy or anxious. The Taiwan program host strongman is an example. For these people, the meaning of "inbox zero" doesn't seem to be very important. Thea Gallagher, director of the Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety at the University of Pennsylvania, said whether the goal of processing the inbox emails can achieve beneficial effects depends on the value of each person and what kind of anxiety impact the email will bring to everyone.

For example, some people who receive emails without time to reply will feel uneasy and lead to unfocused work, so "zero inbox" will allow them to gain a peaceful and beautiful state. Conversely, some people are completely indifferent to the thousands of "unread emails" and have no pressure because these people regard other things in their lives far more important than handling emails, such as sports, participation in social life.

• Too much is counterproductive

Velagal analyzed that if solving "unread email" is not in an important position in personal value level, or it is not a good thing for one's own physical and mental health, then the concept of "zero inbox" can be of little help.

If over-demand requirements are perfect, and for the over-enforcement of the "Inbox Zero" goal, Celagher pointed out that it may be counterproductive, becoming a timeless and untrue thought of the inbox, and even becoming aware that he has lost his grasp of time and is tight, thus destroying international relations and social life. Kaz Nelson, associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Minnesota, further pointed out: "The perfectionist theory may actually lead to delays." She said that because of the requirement of perfection, she wanted to reply to emails with a beautiful document, but because she had been thinking about how to write down the letter, the reply time was constantly shifted. If the pressure factor was added, the vicious cycle could easily appear and became delayed again and again.

Nilson suggested that small and easy-to-achieved plans can be adopted, such as a simple reply indicating that a more detailed reply will be sent next, or a simple reply will be given to the other party that he is welcome to discuss further on the phone..

As for whether "unread email" is directly related to psychological pressure, Li Lager analyzed that if you want to answer this question, the first step is to ask yourself, is whether "inbox zero" is the goal you want to pursue, or is it just to meet other people's expectations. In real life, everyone actually has a different way of sorting, and some people's "unwholesome" actually have certain rules, so there is no need to feel embarrassed about a large number of "unread emails".

• Think about whether it is suitable for yourself

Whether the concept of "zero inbox" is suitable for yourself, the self-evaluation directions recommended by "US News & World Report" include:

●When you see excessive emails that need to be processed, do you feel that the pressure is too high, or are you calm and peaceful?

Some people hold a desk or office must be tidy, but some people are keen on the desk with books and documents piled up like mountains. The way to manage personal email is actually similar to the desk and office desk. If you are very content with "order in a relationship", you can save the time pursuing "inbox zero" and spend time on what you really want to do.

●Is the inbox used to receive messages or as a search engine function?

If you like to keep all business-related emails so that you can search and deliberately reduce the email to zero, it may only add to the trouble in the future.

●Is it a person with a habit? Or do you like to keep all the items and even the little things are thrown away?

If you are someone who keeps the cabinet in an orderly manner, then it is natural that it is reasonable to handle the inbox. On the contrary, if you usually feel nervous about deleting emails or moving emails to a certain file folder, the "Inbox Zero" goal is probably unacceptable.