MoCo’s Email Monstrosity
Photo by John Desmond
It’s 7:00 am on a brisk Monday morning, and thankfully the fireplace inside the HUB is lit. There’s nothing better to keep you nice and cozy than a warm cup of coffee, a fire, and of course just the quiet sounds of Moravian’s campus before it comes to life for a busy and robust day — that is until you decide to open up your laptop and there are already thirty to forty emails and it’s not even 7:05 am. Cue a major eye roll.
As I’m still trying to wake up and enjoy my breakfast that I now have to put on pause, because I have a little obsession with keeping my inbox nice and neat.
I quickly try and go through the emails. One from Gary Becker about looking up at the stars: Professor Becker, you’re absolutely right; the stars are wonderful, but I’m not so enthusiastic about them as you are. Three from the Center of Career and Civic Engagement: yeah, I should probably sign up for the internship fair soon, but I’m not really focused on potential summer work as my coffee turns lukewarm.
Oh, wait a second! Here’s an email that I actually can respond to. No, wait. That’s just another wonderful email from HR: Moravian College Employment Opportunity. Why on earth do I need an email regarding a tenure track position for a department on campus or the coordinator of some other position? Most of us are working towards our bachelor’s degrees while all of these positions prefer a Master’s or higher.
What feels like an eternity that has gone by was actually just twenty minutes of my precious time, and my breakfast is already getting up and walking away from me.
This is just great. I enjoy my classes, professors, and fellow students at Moravian, but one aspect that’s not so enjoyable is all of these emails.
Surely in today’s technological age there can be some way of limiting these emails, either by selecting specified emails towards upperclassmen or solely faculty. I surely don’t need to spend my mornings waking up to an abundance of emails or my downtime to figuring out which are the ones that I’m keeping.
As I look at the clock on my laptop, it’s now 7:28 am and I’ll be late to class after purging all my emails. Do you think you could have sent an email about managing our time wisely or the best way to go sort my emails?
Oh wait: I might have just deleted it! But I’m sure I’ll still receive that email another four times by the time that my morning class ends.
I start making my way in a huff as I quickly pack up my belongings to head over to Comenius, and I think to myself that these emails are quite enough and that it’s not necessary to send out such a large number of them every day.
My phone vibrates, informing me once again about a new employment opportunity.
I finally sit down in class and am ready to start the day. My MacBook is all booted up and ready to take notes while I just happen to take glimpse at the mountain of emails flooding into my inbox. I let out a big sigh, but then I remember something this old man once said: “I’m sick and tired of all these damn emails.” Those are certainly some wise words.
Idea: Maybe MoCo email should undergo a little email revolution of its own.
Helen • Mar 4, 2017 at 7:05 pm
So true – so annoying!!!
What took the cake for me was our financial aid office trying to set up some kind of list to help us get our emails?!Really – as if the financial aid office doesn’t have enough to do already?
My suggestion- mass emails should be sent as part of a subscription service, from which we should all be able to unsubscribe. Services like constant contact allow for multiple users (senders) and have an archive service so old emails can be reviewed.
Currently I’ve simply stopped receiving my MC emails on my smart devices – I try look every week or so, but it’s hard to feel motivated to do so when I feel as though I have no control on what I receive . Sorry, but it feels like I’m being yelled at all day by someone who doesn’t care to hear my response.
I too have tried to bring this up but was told to use filters?! Really?! Well, I did – I filtered my MC email off of my iPhone – not quite what was meant I’m sure, but … desperate times….
thanks for bringing attention to this!
Good luck!
Joyce Hinnefeld • Mar 4, 2017 at 10:58 am
Great opinion piece! It does seem that many campus-wide emails could be sent more selectively. But as a faculty member who often does send emails to the whole campus and/or to all students (because I want as many people as possible to know about an upcoming campus visit by a writer, for instance), I don’t know of any other way to get the word out. (Something tells me, for instance, that posters on the doors of Comenius Hall or the HUB bulletin board don’t get noticed, much less carefully read, by very many students.)
So: I would LOVE to see a student forum/discussion on ideas for effective advertising of campus events–maybe here in The Comenian?
Thanks for starting the conversation!