Chapter 1: Introduction to Hey Email

The email landscape can often feel overwhelming, but with Hey, my experience has been remarkably transformed. Hey filters my emails right from the start, requiring me to approve each new sender. These messages are categorized into Imbox (for crucial emails), Feed (for newsletters), and Paper Trail (for transactional emails). After a week of this manual sorting, my inbox became surprisingly tidy and mostly empty. Currently, I only have two emails waiting for my attention, and often, it’s even none.

It's astonishing to realize how few genuinely significant messages we receive from actual people, while automated notifications and spam clutter our inboxes.

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Section 1.1: The Imbox Experience

Although the term "Imbox" initially makes me cringe, the idea behind it is quite beneficial. By filtering my emails, I determine what’s essential, allowing only those communications to disrupt my focus. The rest remain silent, which I didn’t notice until I paused to reflect. Traditional email often bombards us with an endless stream of notifications:

• You’ve purchased this…
• Interested in buying that?
• Did you see the latest news?
• Look at this adorable cat!

We tend to leave these unread, resulting in an inbox that appears full, despite 90% of it being non-urgent. The crucial messages and priorities get lost in this noise. Manually categorizing and sorting emails significantly enhances the overall experience, making it feel almost Zen-like compared to GMail. Honestly, it can be somewhat dull—most days, I’m left with silence.

Hey represents a bold and innovative approach to email management, though similar functionality could theoretically be implemented in GMail. However, without a foundational design focused on this aspect, the experience would likely fall short.

Section 1.2: The Feed—A New Perspective

The demise of Google’s RSS Reader is still felt today, along with the tragic story of Aaron Swartz, who faced significant challenges during his life. In the aftermath, email newsletters emerged as a fascinating evolution in communication. You may be reading this via my newsletter, and if you’re a paying subscriber, thank you!

However, merging the blogosphere with your inbox can lead to an overwhelming influx of emails. The Feed addresses this challenge by placing all these communications on a separate screen, allowing for leisurely reading—similar to an RSS Reader. Here, I also include school and family newsletters, creating a focused space devoid of social media distractions. When I find myself with some downtime, I can enjoy a curated collection of screened emails instead of diving into the chaotic world of Twitter.

Chapter 2: Navigating the Paper Trail

Recently, I found myself entangled in a marketing email, contemplating whether to order seeni sambol buns. In that moment, I realized I didn't actually need to place an order. For the future, I’ll be screening out such messages. I still receive them, but they simply won’t be able to intrude upon my day. Hey refers to this as the Paper Trail.

Email has evolved into a form of public-key cryptography for everyday users. Just as public-key cryptography utilizes one public key for all to see and one private key for access, our email/password combinations function similarly. While not encrypted, this concept lies at the heart of how we utilize email today. It has transformed into a primary means of identification, with our public email address and private password facilitating a myriad of transactions—all of which generate emails that are often A) tedious, B) distracting, and C) incessant.

I require these emails, but not at this very moment. Consequently, they are filed away in the Paper Trail for me to check periodically, allowing me the option to indulge in those buns later.

Hey Email offers a thoughtful, innovative, and adventurous take on email management, crafted by the creators of Basecamp. I’ve also experimented with an app called Spike, which reimagined email as a messaging platform—an intriguing concept. While GMail has become a rigid and uninspiring tool, email can indeed be enjoyable, based on my experiences.

The irony is that a clean, organized inbox can also feel somewhat dull. However, I consider that a positive dilemma. It’s certainly preferable to the constant anxiety of an overflowing ‘unread’ inbox. The reality is that the majority of emails in our inboxes are better left unread, and there’s no need to feel guilty about it.