Every day, 376 billion emails fly through the ether.
If just 1% are the polite-but-pointless ‘Thank you’ replies, that’s 3.7 billion digital nods..
I asked Brilliant Ai to help with some maths:
Those short, sweet messages rack up 4.1 petabytes of data per year.
They burn enough electricity to power 5,000 UK homes.
They cost over £2 million in energy bills.
A release of nearly 10,000 tonnes of CO₂ annually.
And the biggest cost?
Time.
Five seconds to write.
Three to read.
One to refocus.
Email thank yous could be costing the world over 1,000 human years every day.
And for what? A box ticked. A habit followed. A reply sent because silence feels uncomfortable.
So, should you stop saying thank you?
I’d go with an unequivocal… no.
When you don’t say thank you, when you let appreciation go unsaid, the cost could be far greater.
To your relationships.
To your culture.
To your brand.
A simple thank you can build trust, strengthen reputation and leave a lasting impression.
The difference between forgettable and memorable.
So say thank you.
Mean it.
Make it count.
Because the true cost of not saying it? That’s the one you really can’t afford.
Be Brilliant!
Michael
PS Thank you for reading my messages.
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