by Stephen Blease

Last updated at 13:48, Tuesday, 29 March 2011

On the way home one day last week I saw someone shoving something through my letterbox. It was a bit late for the post to be arriving, I thought.

But as I watched he went to my neighbour’s house, and then the next house, and so on.

Sure enough, when I opened the front door there was yet another pizza leaflet waiting for me. It joined the others in the recycling.

Junk mail has long been one of life’s little annoyances. But one of the consequences of modern technology is that it’s become a big annoyance, as everyone with an e-mail address will know.

When I first got one I could never understand why I kept getting messages offering me pain-free breast enhancement surgery.

Come back from a holiday, switch on your computer and you’re liable to spend half your day wading through all the accumulated junk.

E-mail is the new way for companies to pester people, and it allows them to do it much more cheaply and endlessly than traditional post. I bought a wedding present from Amazon last year and they haven’t left me alone since.

If I get RSI from clicking ‘delete’, maybe I could sue them. There’s usually an e-mail from a “no win, no fee” lawyer somewhere among the junk.

First published at 11:30, Tuesday, 29 March 2011
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk