What the Tech: Getting email under control
Email may not be the most exciting part of the internet, but it’s still how we communicate every day. The problem is, most of us wake up to dozens, sometimes hundreds, of emails we don’t need.
Newsletters we never read. Store offers we don’t want. Promotions from websites we forgot we ever visited. Once you give out your email address online, it’s tough to take it back.
And just one of those mailing lists gets posted on the dark web, you’re opening yourself up to even more spam and attempts by hackers to access your accounts.
That’s why Gmail’s newest feature is such a welcome update. The platform recently added a “Manage Subscriptions” option that lets you quickly unsubscribe from marketing lists without opening a single message.
You’ll find it in Gmail’s side panel, under “Manage Subscriptions.” There you’ll see every company, newsletter, and store you’ve signed up for. A single click on “unsubscribe” removes your address from that list, helping you clear out the clutter and regain control of your inbox.
But even with this new tool, one of the best ways to keep your main inbox clean is to use a dummy email address, a second account used only for signups, newsletters, and online forms.
You can create one for free through Gmail, Yahoo, or Outlook. For a more private option, try Proton Mail, which doesn’t share your data with advertisers or third parties.
Proton Mail is one of the most secure email platforms, so you might even consider using it for all of your emails.
Going forward, treat your main email like your home address. Keep it private. Use your dummy email for everything else. You’ll spend less time deleting junk and more time reading what actually matters.
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