October 20 was declared Information Overload Awareness Day by a group of companies and academics focused on workplace productivity and emerging technology.
The average "knowledge worker" -- basically, anyone who works on a computer -- gets about 93 e-mails a day, according to Basex, one of the companies promoting the non-holiday.
If they all sent 10 percent fewer e-mails, Basex says, it would have a $180 billion annual impact worldwide in the workplace.
Add text messages, social-networking sites like Facebook and good old-fashioned Web surfing, and the amount of information at the fingertips of today's worker can be overwhelming.
"What's happening is a blessing and a curse," said Marsha Egan, a professional efficiency coach. "What's happening is this fabulous technology that enables us to send instant messages and instant emails all over the globe in milliseconds.
"But anything used to excess can become a liability. Because people can be connected 24/7, many of them are."
Egan recommends that clients check their e-mail five times a day.
Responding instantly to every note that hits the inbox sucks more time than people might realize, she said.
"Every interruption has what they call a recovery time," she said. "If someone walks by the office and says, 'What did you think about the Rangers game last night?' ... It takes you 20 seconds to answer. But then you have to remember where you were. Then you think, 'Maybe I'll go get a cup of coffee, or I'll check my eBay listing.' "
She also advises bosses not to send "toxic e-mails," meaning messages that require immediate attention.
