The Reply All Gut Wrench

Elizabeth Bernstein wonders why we aren’t now tech-savvy enough to avoid mortifying reply all mistakes: “You know that feeling: You hit Send—and your heart nearly stops. This shouldn’t still be happening. …Reply All is dangerous. It makes us feel in the loop. And it can be a way to toot our own horns. Never mind that we hate how group emails multiply like rabbits in our inboxes. ‘Many people lean toward covering their rears by overinforming their bosses and colleagues.’ Why don’t email programs have a ‘dummy button’ that pops up when we hit Reply All and asks, ‘Are you sure?'”