GigaOM

Whichever way you slice it, Americans are obsessed with email, and cannot live without it, according to a survey conducted by America Online. How obsessive? Nearly 8% are busy checking their emails in business meetings, while 12% would rather write love notes than pay attention to professors when in class. On the beach, where perfect bodies are an ideal distraction, nearly 6% of would rather check email. How about that 4% of us check mail while sitting on our thrones. (Too impolite to mention … which throne!)

Forty one percent of us check email first thing in the morning, roughly the same number who have to check email in middle of the night, 18% check it right after dinner, 14% say they check e-mail right when they get home from work, and 14% do so right before they go to bed. We can’t live without it! More than one in four (26%) say they haven’t gone more than two to three days without checking their e-mail. What’s worse - nearly 3 out of 4 folks have more than one email account. This obsession is worse in Miami, followed by San Francisco, Philadelphia, New York and Houston. Miami??