In the final episode of Seinfeld, a funny (yet insightful) plot tangent develops between Jerry and Elaine.  Elaine uses her cell phone to call a friend whose father is in the hospital, and Jerry chastises her for conducting such an important phone call on a cell phone.  He considers cell phones to be reserved for less significant types of conversations, while landline phones are more appropriate for formal conversations.

It's a minor point, but it is certainly relevant in today's world.  Is there an unwritten stratification of importance/urgency in messaging?  Is there a certain level of respect or disrespect that must be weighed when we select our method of communication?  For example, how many of us are annoyed when we are interrupted by an unimportant phone call whose content could have been simply typed in an email?  What about long instant messages about non-urgent matters?  Would you prefer IM or email?  Which messages are more appropriate for our daytime "work" email inbox and which messages should be routed to our personal email box?  Can we organize our messaging systems to become less of a distraction than an aid?

I believe that the emerging technology called Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is going to have a huge impact on our sense of organized messaging.  This technology allows us to use a spam-free, 100% deliverable syndication method for our content subscriptions.  By moving all of our daily newsletters, news alerts, retail promotions, sports columns, movie coupons, blog subscriptions, etc to RSS, we save our email inbox for only important messages from friends, family, coworkers, etc.

Remember the excitement we all felt the first time we got a Blackberry/Treo/PDA?  Remember the frustration we all felt when we realized that our 70-80 emails a day turned our PDA from a wonderful professional aid to a dreaded beeping leash?  Fret not...RSS will save you.