[...] Email Zero: Imagining life without email Very, very tempting! [...]

For me, e-mail saves time. I can easily discuss topics with my classmates using a mail list, I can receive information without having to pick up the phone and write the information down (with risk of losing the note).

But, as a student, I understand that others might have a lot more incoming mail than me.

[...] a key part of our everyday personal and professional lives, but blogger and academic Cal Newport argues that your email dependence might be more knee-jerk convention than [...]

[...] a key part of our everyday personal and professional lives, but blogger and academic Cal Newport argues that your email dependence might be more knee-jerk convention than reality. [...]

[...] Study Hacks » Blog Archive » E-Mail Zero: Imagining Life Without E-Mail [...]

[...] Alan Lightman, Donald Knuth, Neal Stephensen, and Leo Babauta, for example, all gave up (public) e-mail. I realize now that what attracts me to their stories is that they’re examples of creatives who are willing to fight hard for their core. [...]

The key point remains the same: one input that filters all incoming information flows is better; let it be web 2.0, email, phone, whatever

E-mail zero is just a mean to minimize the different paths of incoming information flows.

I agree. But the key point missing from your argument is that not all incoming information flows are made equal. Due to many factors, e-mail has a tendency to be way more time sapping than other forms of communication. Therefore, eliminating it, as oppose to the phone and answering machine, my be a better reductions among the many possible.

Latest email software (personal or corporate versions) and various web 2.0 applications/mashups try to achieve the same result … with the convenience of the digital world Imagine a Zero Phone, Zero Answer Machine and everything in your Inbox

Just my $0.02