Personal Technology

Spam more than just irritating

Time wasted deleting junk e-mail costs American businesses nearly $22-billion a year in lost productivity, a study says.

A telephone survey of adults who use the Internet found that more than three-quarters receive spam daily. We get an average of 18.5 spam messages per day and spend an average of 2.8 minutes deleting them.

Only 14 percent read spam messages and 4 percent have bought something advertised through spam within the past year, the University of Maryland study found.