Write shorter messages By Todd Rogers and Jessica Lasky-FinkUpdated December 19, 2020, 4:00 a.m. Email to a Friend istockphoto/iStock News alert: People donât have enough time, and they receive too many communications. The average professional spends 28 percent of their work week â over 11 hours â reading and answering email. The average person communicates more than 90 times per day by text and more than 100 times per day by email. Every message received demands attention and time from people who are already too busy. Communicators too often appear oblivious to this reality by sending long and poorly organized written messages. Weâve all been guilty of this. But writing messages without a keen awareness of readersâ limited time and attention creates two problems.