Unsubscribe From Everything

Spam is still a huge problem for email, but thanks to Gmail and other services’ great spam filters, it’s not something you really have to think that much about these days. But that doesn’t mean email’s annoyances are behind us. We might not have to sort through dodgy offers and scams in our inboxes, but most of our inboxes are filled with the dozens of newsletters and promotions and company updates and more that we’ve signed up for over the years, inadvertently or not.

It can get to be quite a mess. My wife and I took a week honeymoon this past December, and decided to stay offline most of the trip. Even though colleagues and friends knew I’d be offline, I still came home to nearly 100 new emails per day I was away. But once I’d sorted though all the holiday promotions and newsletters and app notification emails, there were only several dozen emails that actually needed replies.

That’s insane.

Gmail’s added tools to sort emails out into promotions and more, and there’s 3rd party tools that can do an even better job at it — but really, you don’t need an app for that. You just need some control.

And so, I’ve taken the extra minute to scroll to the bottom of emails I’d otherwise have deleted immediately, and instead searched for the nearly-hidden Unsubscribe link. A tap — and sometimes a click or two in the webpage — and I should never get another email from that company again. It might take a few extra clicks to turn off email notifications from your apps and social networks, if you want to get rid of those emails as well, but it’s worth it for a cleaner inbox. And if there’s anything you can’t unsubscribe from — a newsletter without an unsubscribe button, or chain emails and message lists you can’t convince people to take you off — just hit the Junk button, and your email app will learn to treat them like spam. Seems extreme, but if that’s your only option, take it.

It’ll take some time — I’ve still ended up needing to hit Unsubscribe on at least on email a day this month — but one day soon, your deluge of internet flotsam should be gone, or at least significantly diminished. You’ll have half-way tamed the email beast without having to see extra “promotions” from Google or let another 3rd party read your email.

Now, your inbox will be back to just having mainly the stuff you really need. It’ll still be annoying to clear out, but you’ll be tapping the Delete button a lot less than before. And, hopefully, you won’t have hundreds of emails to sort through after your next vacation.

Thoughts? @reply me on Twitter.