Email--once a breakthrough in silent, speedy, low-cost communication technology that so seamlessly fits into the information worker's day it barely goes noticed in 2008--is starting to get a bad rap. A typical office worker checks email more than 50 times a day, IMs 77 times and visits more than 40 Web sites a day, according to a study by tracking-software maker RescueTime cited in a New York Times article published June 14.

According to Basex, a company that researches workers' efficiency, email is part of the 28 percent, or largest segment of an employee's day that is spent dealing with interruptions that aren't urgent or important. It takes time to get back on track afterward, <A HREF="http://blogs.eweek.com/careers/content001/email_distraction_costing_650m_a_year.html?kc=EWKNLNAV061808STR3">at a cost of $650 billion a year in lost productivity.</A>