Is Email Fading?

[mso489]

Twitter, texting, Instagram, other social media seem to be in the ascent. Email, requiring a lot of writing and responding to keep it going, seems to have gone the way of the pen-and-ink letter. Being a Luddite of the first order, I still keep several continual strings of email going, but I notice if I email some people, especially younger people, the chances of being answered are remote. I don't use Facebook and similar social media formats, and I've read some comment that they have lost favor with younger people. i found it coercive and manipulative from the outset and didn't want to present myself that way. Pipesmagazine Forums seems most like an email format to me, as do other groups of this sort, so I post regularly here. But back to the question, is email rapidly fading as a communication channel?
Footnote: I remember when "personal computers" often featured "word processing" as a main function. Now you can discern that creating documents is a specialized app and must be studiously selected and installed, rather than being one of the centerpieces of a device. Likewise, desktop PC's are specialty items and a little old fashioned.
But the question on the floor is, is email fading? Or need I ask? Is the answer obvious in the question?

 

[sablebrush52]

The hand written letter is so dead. Email is certainly being infringed upon by texting. Who has time to write a fully realized piece of expository writing, or time to read one for that matter in this fast paced day and age? Much easier to spit out a sentence or a phrase, preferably 25 words or less. Clearly there isn't a topic that requires more than that. These days I'm beginning to wonder if there are that many people left with the ability to mentally follow a thought past 25 words. I do meet a few, just not many.
There are a few of us who still piss into the wind. I'll write the occasional letter, though it's almost always email and only rarely snail mail. Generally letters of condolence to someone I know gets a hand written letter. Some topics simply can't be covered in 25 words or less, despite current trends of thought.

 

[dmcmtk]

Might b, esp when u can txt... :nana:

 

[georged]

wut r u tlking abt?? txtng not affcted ppls riting at ALL. stp w/yr aggro sht gpa.

 

[mso489]

Wow, sable', you raise one of those wonderful old distinctions lost in the mists of time -- whether to handwrite a letter or type it. I feel certain there are virtually no people under the age of sixty who know there is such a distinction! Mostly, they don't write letters by hand or typed. I'm old enough to still worry over that, and have actually apologized for typing a letter, explaining that my handwriting sometimes gives people trouble. It's not shaky with age, just scrawly from years of jotting notes at meetings, etc., or in lectures in school. If I breathe deeply and relax, I can summon up presentable handwriting ... which they no longer teach in most schools. As the world turns.
'Love the coded messages in posts above. I worry when it begins to make sense and I can readily work out what the abbreviations mean. Almost worse than not having a clue.
I really liked email, thinking it would enhance peoples' written language. Ha!

 

[nevadablue]

I hate texting...
I love my iPad.
I have a typewriter and know how to use it.
:nana:

 

[sablebrush52]

Wow, sable', you raise one of those wonderful old distinctions lost in the mists of time -- whether to handwrite a letter or type it. I feel certain there are virtually no people under the age of sixty who know there is such a distinction!

It's one of those gentle niceties that has its origins in a time when we still pretended that people actually mattered. Perhaps the lack of regard for others that is so much a foundational characteristic of today's culture is more honest.

 

[brian64]

I'm wondering what percentage of younger people ever read books these days...I would bet it's much smaller than in the past. Supposedly handwriting is no longer taught in most schools.
The average vocabulary size has to be shrinking dramatically if the only input is from mass media and the public school system.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Agree with the above. But I see an even worse trend: emojis! Started simply enough, but now u don' need words. :crazy:

 

[mso489]

Vast amounts of knowledge are accessible through technology, but when people were digging out references in the card catalog and sheafing through the dusty stacks in libraries, the path of knowledge was more tangible and the concept of truth and facts had more currency, I'd surmise. People live in these little "thought bytes," exposed to vast available knowledge but impatient with interacting with much of it in any depth. It's that people feel too rushed to study anything, which means they don't learn much, thinking they can always dig something out if they need it. Which isn't true and doesn't make good use of our brains, such as they are. But I hope we are doing much better than we think we are, and that our devices make us much more insightful and intelligent than we used to be. Ever been surprised by how smart people were in ancient Greece? Or before? Cave paintings are really sophisticated art, show a lot of thought and consideration. Hmmm.

 

[philobeddoe]

I’m a bibliophile, so the societal downgrading of printed texts has very much troubled me.The e-book may contain the same information as a printed book, but the impact and retention from reading an e-book is less so, in my experience. I understand that the use and dissemination of language changes over time and that all things must pass, but the loss of permanence that a book represents, I am finding particularly hard to accept.

 

[puffy]

For some reason AOL has ended it's instant message function..I would guess that texting contributed to it's demise.

 

[brian64]

+1 Philo.

People live in these little "thought bytes," exposed to vast available knowledge but impatient with interacting with much of it in any depth. It's that people feel too rushed to study anything

I think a major factor is the super fast editing/scene changes and camera motion in TV shows/commercials/music videos/movies that kids grow up with these days.
I can't imagine growing up staring at that stuff...I can't even look at it. It has to be one of the primary factors creating very short attention spans imo.

 

[saltedplug]

The anchors of literacy are reading, writing and thought. None of them are well-represented in my society. Lunkers, all.

 

[olkofri]

The Internet and hypertext has had a lot to do with it, as it predisposes people to 'thinking in jumps', never carrying a line of thought long enough to see it to its conclusion. Unlike books where one must continue reading page after page, web pages offer endless options to jump out of the topic/page without ever finish reading it. I don't think the boom of the Internet and the explosion of so-called ADD are coincidental.

 

[yaddy306]

 

[brightleaf]

I think the original post is right in that a forum set up like pipesmagazine is a lot like an email. Thread posts are more thoughtful since they are conversations that can be answered after some time has past. Having a chat room or chat box is more like texting.

 

[brian64]

@yaddy: LOL ... thank you sir...a badge of honor as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Chasing Embers]

 

[brian64]

Right on Embers!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PTIk2h6q1I