[padobson]

Think about how checking e-mails can take you completely out of context and badly dilute the quality of your work.

I agree with this completely, but the converse is also true. Sometimes you need to switch context during the day, and scanning headlines and reading emails helps me do that (I'm doing it right now!).

The best context switching strategies I've found are eating and meditation, but those aren't always feasible or socially acceptable, so browsing headlines is a good stand-in.

[fjsolwmv]

Surely walking around the building/block is an effective and healthy context switch?