E-mail seems to have become more of a burden than a benefit in our lives. It could be that there is just too much spam, with some estimates putting the total number of junk messages at over 90 per cent of all e-mail volume. Or maybe it's that we're having trouble keeping up.

U.S. productivity expert Merlin Mann says we often misuse e-mail. He and other experts advise that we should deal with our e-mail rather than let it languish: delete it, respond to it, archive it or move it to a folder for future work. But even with that advice, growing numbers of businesses are moving away from e-mail into the realms of instant messaging, or social networking sites, or even back to the telephone!

Some companies are mandating one day per week as e-mail free -- and people are finding they can somehow still do their job.

Having said that, a survey this summer by Yahoo indicated that giving out our e-mail address is now the equivalent of giving out a telephone number. Thirty-two per cent of those surveyed said their personal e-mail address was the first thing they give out, 18 per cent their home phone number, 12 per cent a cell number. And 77 per cent felt that having a personal e-mail address is important in modern life -- including nearly 60 per cent who want a personal e-mail address in order to avoid using their company address.

Most know that the boss can read their e-mail or discipline them for using company computer time. However, most of us ignore that fact and 89 per cent of us send personal e-mails from work.

Chris Dodunksi of JCS & Associates of Ottawa sells companies a program that produces a detailed report on what you are doing at work.

"If you spend an hour a day surfing the web, that's a 12 per cent drop in your productivity for an eight-hour day," said Dodunski. "That's a very big hit for a company and my guess is that it's a lot higher than that."

Dodunski's program looks at all the hot spots, e-mail, web surfing, instant messaging and time spent on search sites. Canadian companies are more concerned than American firms that this is all too much like Big Brother watching your every move. But Dodunski believes that attitude is going to change as companies realize the cost of personal time on the company computer.

Web site of the Week: 

www.popcuts.com.  Launched two months ago, this site lets you buy downloadable songs -- and then you get a cut of future sales of that song.

This Sunday one of the stories on TECH NOW will be a look at a new animated television cartoon show that features life on a Mohawk reserve near Montreal.