It’s starting with Google’s Gmail, but other email service companies can’t be too far behind. Gmail is now offering users the option of being able to organize emails according to importance. A sorter will help you categorize messages: which ones you should read immediately and which ones you can read later. Gmail offers three tabs: primary, social, and promotions.

It’s all very sensible. Google Gmail learns to identify primary emails that are most important. The Social tab contains message updates from various social networks, like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Tumblr, and Yelp. Promotions contains newsletters, party invites, and concert announcements. You can also add additional tabs to help manage electronic bills, banking statements, and messages from forum boards.

Itamar Gilad, a product manager at Google, was quoted as saying, “All emails compete for our attention and it’s getting more difficult to focus on the things we need to get done.” My thoughts exactly. I get no less than 500 emails a day, many of them from people inside my company. We no longer get up from our chairs to talk to each other. We send emails. When we scream at each other we use CAPS.

At the end of each work day, I wonder if my life is now being measured in emails rather than years. I’m not complaining; it’s my livelihood. However, I’m all for organization. I do get distracted by emails from Bloomingdale’s, friends, and the theater. I am not sure if classifying emails into tabs is going to cure my habit of procrastination, but I’m willing to give it a try.