I love the fact that Donald Knuth, one of the most knowledgable minds about computer science, hasn't had an email address since 1990. He used to have one for fifteen years (between 1975 - 1990) but it killed his productivity so he no longer uses it.
I don't think that says much about email itself. He has a secretary to deal with his paper mail. There's no reason a secretary-curated email inbox wouldn't be similar.
> My secretary prints out all messages addressed to taocp@cs.stanford.edu or knuth-bug@cs.stanford.edu, so that I can reply with written comments when I have a chance.
http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~uno/email.html