At 10:13 PM last night, I sent Atlantic assistant editor Joe Pinsker an email to say I was writing an article about all the after-work time we spend on email.
Before the clock struck 10:14, Joe had replied: “Sounds good.”
Without having any idea that I would share his correspondence, Joe anticipated that I needed an anecdotal lede, and he kindly provided it. For a certain class of workers, late evening isn’t time off work. It’s time on email, time to show your addressees the true meaning of workaholic, and time to return to a job from which you can never truly sign out.