Gen Z have ’email anxiety’ at work, struggling to deal with thousands of unread messages: ‘Hardest part of my job’

It just isn’t by clicking for them.

For millennials and older, the You Got Mail notification rarely caused stress.

In fact, most people over the age of thirty still remember feeling a thrill when they received an email, whether it was from work, family, friends or even advertisers during their early stages in the early years.

But for Gen Z digital natives, receiving electronic mail—from the office, that is—seems to be as unsettling as being sentenced to the electric chair.

Gen Z seems to struggle more with the stress of email, Esteban Touma, linguistics and culture expert at language learning platform Babbel, told CNBC. [They stack] increase a large amount of unread emails due to a combination of factors.

Babbel researchers recently surveyed 2,000 US office workers to determine that employees between the ages of 18 and 24 are the most likely to let emails pile up.

The results indicated that more than a third, 36%, of Gen Z professionals say they have more than 1,000 unread emails in their inbox, compared to 18% of office workers Generally.

For young people at work, the backlog of unanswered messages creates a heavy layer of pressure to open, read and respond to messages correctly. And once they finally do respond, a whopping 1 in 5 Gen Zs report very often regretting the emails they send.

The formality of email, compared to the laissez-faire nature of texting or direct messaging on social media, also makes twenty-somethings uncomfortable.

Gen Z’s communication preferences are heavily influenced by the prevalence of instant messaging platforms and social media, Touma said. Platforms like Snapchat and Instagram, for example, prioritize instant communication, informality and visual cues.

The structured and formal nature of email communication can seem unfamiliar and more complicated to many [Gen Zers]added the source.

And he is right that the children are not well.

[On my way] at my office job to answer emails with the anxiety levels of a person hunted for sports, a 9-5-year-old wrote in the closed caption of her TikTok clip while sucking on applesauce before to go to work.

Email anxiety is so real, a freelancer caught on in another viral video. The hardest part of my job is writing emails. It will take me 30 minutes to compose and send a three-sentence email.

I can’t live like this, she moaned.

Similar sentiments were echoed by equally shocked online workers.

Unsurprisingly, emails are far from the only workplace nuisance grinding Gen Z’s gears.

As well as canceling use of the thumbs up emoji due to its hostile connotations, whippersnappers at work have also banned the cartoon peach icon, citing its inappropriate undertones.

The demographic also doesn’t want to sit behind a desk with a traditional eight-hour schedule.

It’s not something I’m willing to do, barked an adamant Gen Z, who said he was only committed to taking jobs that offered 9-14 shifts.

But when it comes to email anxiety, Touma warns that the stress can cause burnout in corporate youth.

Unlike older generations who may have developed strategies to compartmentalize work and personal communication, Gen Z may struggle to set boundaries, he said.

Experts suggest that more seasoned professionals have had more time to achieve a healthy work-life balance when handling email, while newbies at big companies are still less savvy.

The expectation to respond quickly to emails and other messages can blur the lines between work and personal life, he said. This constant connectivity can contribute to increased stress levels and the feeling of being constantly tied to work obligations.

But there’s still hope for the pro Cubs, according to Touma.

He recommends that Gen Z try to respond to urgent messages within an hour or two. For messages that aren’t time-sensitive, responding within 24 hours is considered courteous and professional, she advised.

Touma also suggests setting up filters to automatically sort emails by urgency and subject, as well as designating specific times to check and respond to emails throughout the day.

Finally, urge people to unsubscribe from irrelevant email lists and newsletters.