I don't understand why people are constantly acting like they are required to read email. I currently have over nine-thousand unread emails in my gmail. And look! Nothing bad happened! That's getting things done. Things that aren't email.
Note: I don't expect e-mail to be replied to straight away just when there it time, if it's urgent I will most of the time use alternative contact methods.
If someone needs me urgently for something, they can ping me in our company hipchat or use any of a number of methods to contact me by voice. Email is lowest priority.
I do get through my emails, but it's not something I allow to interrupt my day repeatedly.
Since I switched over to this, the self-inflicted stress over keeping my inbox empty has gone away. ANd I still get the work done that I need to get done.