Writings in the Sand

Google Nudges

A meme in my Facebook feed this morning poses one of the most challenging questions facing those of us living in the modern world:

"hmm...should I spend two seconds clicking unsubscribe or spend one second deleting an email from this company every single day for the rest of my life?"

This is a real dilemma because to unsubscribe is to cut yourself off from any future messages from this source. The possibility exists that even if I am not very interested in reading that email today, at some point in the future, there may be something of great interest and if I unsubscribe, I will miss it.

Actually, that's not true. The truth is that I am inexcusably lazy. I don't read emails if the subject line tells me all I need to know. I don't click unsubscribe because I don't want to spend the time and effort. And I don't even delete the emails every day, or sometimes ever. I am so lazy.

But I cannot be the only one who gets emails they don't read from a source they have only a slight interest in. It's so easy to get on a mailing list - it takes nearly no effort at all and it can be done without even being aware of the commitment one is making. Unsubscribing is a conscious decision and requires a directed effort.

Google is being helpful these days by having my Gmail ask me about senders that I ignore. "You haven't opened an email from so-and-so in a while" it will tell me, and then ask if I want to unsubscribe. This is incredibly helpful. I know that Google has become evil and overtaken by megalomania and a desire to rule the world, but sometimes it's worth it to sell my virtual soul because Google excels at making life easier for lazy people.