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E-mail so last millennium
19/07/2006 12:35 - (SA)
Chicago - Young people see e-mail as a good way to reach an elder - a parent, teacher or a boss - or to receive an attached file.
But increasingly, the former darling of hi-tech communication is losing favour to instant and text messaging, and to the chatter generated on blogs and social networking sites.
The shift is starting to creep into workplace communication too.
"In this world of instant gratification, e-mail has become the new snail mail," says 25-year-old Rachel Quizon.
She became addicted to instant messaging in college, where many students are logged on 24/7.
Much like home postal boxes have become receptacles for junk mail, bills and the occasional greeting card, electronic mailboxes have become cluttered with spam.
That makes them a pain to weed through, and the problem is only expected to worsen as some e-mail providers allow online marketers to bypass spam filters for a fee.
Beyond that, e-mail has become most associated with school and work.
"It used to be just fun," says Danah Boyd, a doctoral candidate at the University of California. "Now it's about parents and authority."
It means that many people often do not respond to e-mails unless they have to.
'Still holds more clout'
That said, no one is predicting the death of e-mail. Besides its usefulness in formal correspondence, it also offers the ability to send something from "one to many", says Anne Kirah, a senior design anthropologist at Microsoft who studies people's hi-tech habits.
Quizon e-mails frequently in her corporate communications job at a hospital, and also uses it when she needs documentation. In those cases, she says e-mail "still holds more clout".
But when immediacy is a factor - as it often is - most young people prefer the telephone or instant messaging, according to research from the Pew Internet & American Life Project.
"And there is a very strong sense that the migration away from e-mail continues," says Lee Rainie, the director at Pew.
Some who have got caught up in the trend toward brevity wonder if it is making things too impersonal. "Don't want to see someone? Then call them. Don't want to call someone? E-mail them. Don't want to take the trouble of writing sentences? Text them," says 33-year-old Matthew Felling, an admitted "serial texter" who is also the spokesperson for the Centre for Media and Public Affairs in Washington.
"It's the ultimate social crutch to avoid personal communication."
But others do not see it that way. They think the shift toward IM and text is simply more efficient and convenient.
Chintan Talati, who is 28, often uses instant message with other younger peers at his workplace. He prefers IM over e-mail.
"It's a way to get a quicker answer," he says.
His baby boomer colleagues do not necessarily share that view - and often find instant messaging overwhelming.
On the net:
www.pewinternet.org
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