# How Often Do You Check Your Email? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 21, 2010, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-check-your-email/564989 "2010-12-21T19:18:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-check-your-email/564989/41 "2010-12-22T08:49:59Z")
Email is pretty much on constantly. However, a friend can send me a text and I won’t realise for weeks, because I’m not a phone person. ---
**Author:** ![ramel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb8c5e/32.png) [@ramel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ramel)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-check-your-email/564989/42 "2010-12-22T09:50:04Z")
> [@](#): > > Once a week or less (please explain) Why do I have to explain? Nobody emails me, so there’s no need to check my accounts frequently. The only real time I do check it is when I’m expecting an email, because I’ve signed up to something. So, I check my email about once every month or two. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-check-your-email/564989/43 "2010-12-22T11:03:50Z")
My email client is always running while my computer is on. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-check-your-email/564989/44 "2010-12-22T11:59:03Z")
My main gmail account is always open. I have two other email accounts that forward to it, and whenever I see the “(1)” pop up on the tab, which is multiple times a day, I check it. I’m looking for work right now, so I’m subscribed to a variety of career mailing lists, and I live in hope that it might be someone wanting to set up an interview. It would be very foolish for me not to check it regularly. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-check-your-email/564989/45 "2010-12-22T12:04:09Z")
I have the closest thing I can manage to constant access on my desktop: I get an RSS feed in a Live Bookmark, giving me 1-click microsecond access to my email. Unfortunately, Firefox starts getting really slow on my computer if I tweak the update times, so that means it automatically checks every hour. I really wish I could find access to the Gmail push feed. Surely it must exist somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Al\_Bundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@Al\_Bundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al_Bundy)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-check-your-email/564989/46 "2010-12-22T13:20:01Z")
I have five email accounts all going into Outlook Express. When I turn on in the morning it checks and I periodically check throughout the day. Sometimes it becomes like IM. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-check-your-email/564989/47 "2010-12-22T22:28:14Z")
> [@kapri](#): > > So when you say “continuously,” what do you mean? Computer makes a ding when email comes in. Also, at work, I have multiple monitors, and one of them usually has my email client open and visible, so even if I have sound off or whatever, I usually see the email come in via peripheral vision. I’m not always at my computer, so I guess it’s not truly all the time. But I don’t really _check_ at discrete intervals, either. It’s just there. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-check-your-email/564989/48 "2010-12-22T22:39:01Z")
Uhh, my email program, which is essentially never not running, checks every 10 minutes. I checked “3 times per day or more” which is sort of like saying I take a breath at least once every 5 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-check-your-email/564989/49 "2010-12-23T04:20:18Z")
It’s more like All Day and All of the Night. ---
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-check-your-email/564989/50 "2010-12-23T04:47:50Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Continuously – all my e-mail from my main accounts shows up on my Blackberry. This. And I have a phobia of talking on the phone, so it’s my main vehicle of reaching the outside world. ---
**Author:** ![be\_bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@be\_bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/be_bright)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-check-your-email/564989/51 "2010-12-23T05:02:07Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Whenever my computer goes “DING!” meaning an email has come in. In other words, continuously throughout the day. This is also me. Gmail Notifier, anyone? 🙂 I don’t have a smartphone so I’m not always connected to the internet (I have a data plan, but Gmail on my mobile browser is meh). I do have an iPod Touch, though, so if I’m away from my laptop but still have access to WiFi, the first thing I do is look for that little red badge. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-check-your-email/564989.md?page=2)