E-Mail Jones.

A new study finds that for millions of Americans e-mail is an essential part of everyday life — but does that mean they are addicted? You decide.

In partnership with Opinion Research Corporation, America Online conducted online surveys with over 4,000 people over 18 in 20 cities across the country. They asked Americans about their e-mail habits, with the stress on “habit.” The survey found that users rely on e-mail as much as the phone for communication, spend about an hour a day on e-mail and that 77% of them have more than one e-mail account. Does that mean they are hooked?

The survey shows:

41% of Americans check e-mail first thing in the morning
18% check e-mail right after dinner
14% check e-mail right when they get home from work
14% check e-mail right before they go to bed
40% of e-mail users have checked their e-mail in the middle of the night

More than one in four (26%) of us say we can’t go more than two to three days without checking our e-mail. And we check it everywhere.

In bed (23%)
In class (12%)
In a business meeting (8%)
At a Wi-Fi hotspot (6%)
At the beach or pool (6%)
In the bathroom (4%)
While driving (4%)
In church (1%)

And we check personal e-mail on the job. A lot. The survey found that 61% of e-mail users who are employed outside the home check their personal e-mail at work, three times a day on the average.

47% check personal e-mail at work
47% check it sporadically throughout the day
25% check it first thing when they arrive at work
18% check it at lunchtime
8% during an afternoon break
2% right before heading home

Women are more likely than men to check their personal e-mail at work throughout the day (50% vs. 44%), while men are more likely than women to check their personal e-mail first thing when they arrive in the morning (28% vs. 21%). Of course, 20% of those who admit to checking their e-mail at work do feel guilty about it, and women are twice as likely as men to feel guilty about sending personal e-mails from the office (27% vs. 13%). Almost one out of every ten people who check personal e-mail at work (9%) have been busted by their boss for it, but, presumably, they are still working — and still reading personal e-mail while doing it.

Americans may steal time from work for personal e-mail, but they also read work e-mail while off the clock — 60% of all e-mail users check their e-mail while on vacation , 47% for pleasure, 13% for business.

Americans aren’t necessarily addicted to e-mail. They just need it, a lot, morning, noon and night.

For information at http://www.eMarketer.com