If you are a newcomer to the Internet, one of your first proud pleasures is the exchange of e-mail. If you are an old hand, you are probably lamenting the daily assault on your time, and are scrambling to reduce it. New or old, you are headed for a tenfold increase in received messages during the coming decade, as the number of interconnected people grows and as each person and organization increases their use of e-mail. You are also headed toward new capabilities-maybe at the extreme, skydiving in your goggles and body suit and e-mailing the experience to your friend, who will play it back through her e-mail apparel! But exciting as future improvements may be, they will be dwarfed by a present, real and growing overload.

Every piece of e-mail you get demands attention, be it a second to trash it, or 15 minutes to compose a reply. A normal person needs an average of two to three minutes to process a message. If you only get one or two messages a day, you have no reason to worry, even under a tenfold increase. And you probably treasure the ability to communicate with others. For many people who are alone, or live far away from loved ones, e-mail is a godsend.