'My emails become unnoticed by the manager': Manager claims employee isn't doing enough work because their work gets lost under coworker's mountains of updates

Everyone requires a different level of communication.

Some people need to be constantly kept in touch with. They want you to check in at all hours of the day, or else they feel abandoned. It's their natural cadence, and they expect you to meet their needs. Other people you can go months without speaking to and resume your life just the same. Everyone has different preferences, and we all have to learn to accommodate each other and assert our needs. Especially at work. Communication is one of the most essential parts of working somewhere. Odds are, you have to check in with a team or a boss throughout the day. Maybe you do this over Slack or in person, but either way, you're figuring out how to talk to each other. You have to suss out how casual or formal you can be, how direct or flowery, and what your response time is expected to be. It's different at every job. And it might take you a while to adapt to someone else's cadence. 

Maybe you were used to a little more independence at your last job, but at this one, you're expected to ask someone before you do every little thing. This can be a weird thing to get used to. You don't want to ruffle any feathers while you're working, so you want to adapt to whatever your boss wants out of you. But what if it obscures the actual work you're doing? That's the situation this worker was in.