Email Addicts In Pennsylvania Get 12-Step Program

People addicted to email now have a 12-step program designed to tackle their obsession.

An executive coach in Pennsylvania has devised a plan to teach people how to manage the electronic tool, which it says can be as much an intrusive waste of time as it is efficient.

Marsha Egan developed the plan for a golfer who checked his BlackBerry after every shot, and lost a potential client who wanted nothing to do with his obsession.

She says her plan taps into deepening concern that email misuse can cost businesses millions of dollars in lost productivity. "There is a crisis in corporate America, but a lot of CEOs don't know it," Ms Egan said. "They haven't figured out how expensive it is."

She says one of her clients cannot walk by a computer - her own or anyone else's - without checking for messages, and others will not go holidays anywhere they cannot connect to their email. Some will even wait for emails and send themselves a message if one has not shown up in several minutes.

The first of the 12 step program? "Admit that email is managing you. Let go of your need to check email every 10 minutes".

Other steps include "commit to keeping your inbox empty", "establish regular times to review your email" and "deal immediately with any email that can be handled in two minutes or less but create a file for mails that will take longer".

Egan adds she is planning to start a monthly teleconference for "emailers anonymous".

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