Email Communication

Email Communication

“According to the Pew study, 87% of Internet users on a given day use email.” [Email] Electronic mail or more commonly known as e-mail has changed not only personal communication but business communication as well. Email, more often than not, is thought of as cheap communication; but it is really costing not only businesses, but individuals as well, in dollars, time, skills, and relationships. The days of anxiously waiting by the mailbox for news from a long distance relative or lover are over. Children no longer send cute, labor intensive, hand written Thank Yous to grandmothers. Instead, both are sent via e-mails.

News and thanks are welcome via e-mail but all the personal touch is gone out of these once treasured moments. Children learn to type instead of perfecting their handwriting skills. Grandparents now treasure printouts of emails instead of letters and cards. Email is definitely a two-headed snake in both the home and the corporate world. Email has allowed communication to take place like never before. Soldiers are able to “talk” to their families, instantly when before it would take weeks for news to travel back and forth.

Email has enabled lost friendships to be found when there have been thousands of miles between them. Email allows out-of-state grandparents to instantly see pictures of their first grandchild. Email allows businesses to interact between each other and between their employees immediately on issues and ideas. Contracts can be completed in minutes instead of days. Yes, email has been one of the greatest inventions of all times. But then there is the other head of the snake. What is email doing to our social skills and our ethics? And at what costs? Granted, email is better than no mail when it comes to a friend or family member.

Email users are able to stay in contact with long distance family and friends. The fears in communication of huge long distance phone bills and bad handwriting have vanished. Email has come to the...

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