Email and Notions of Novelty
By Mr.e

You have e-mail, right? Anyone with a computer and phone line can get it. It’s free, well in its most basic form. You do, don’t you?!

Do you use it? And if you don’t use it, why do you have it?

I may not be alone in giving voice to this feeling, but I’m starting to get a bit teed off at people who not that long ago boasted about e-mail. Of how practical it was to be hooked into the latest communications advances, how simple it was to communicate with anyone out there (also plugged in) and how easy it now was to dump a bunch of words into some electronic mail box hundreds if not thousands of kilometers away.

Some of these same people never return your email. Mind you when I think about it, they never were all that great at returning snail mail either

So I guess it comes as no ‘great’ surprise that e-mail didn’t enhance their communication habits, savy or skills. They’re still poor communicators. But for just a little while, I believed that I’d actually hear from them on a more regular basis.

Where are they now? Not surprising, some of these new technology boosters have left the game, early. I know of some people who don’t even look at a screen anymore. There are probably more of you out there right now, who are mulling over the same options.

Yes, this e-mail thing can be a blessing for those who rely on daily connections, contact and a continuous flow of information from clients, co-workers, employers, partners and family and friends. It can also be a bit annoying when the unsolicited junk mail starts to clutter up a once personal space.

But you must admit that you never get mail that was dropped in a puddle or shredded by some bizarre machine in the bowels of many snail mail centers.

My point is this. I use e-mail for as many personal and professional purposes as I can see the need for.

And it is cheaper than buying stamps, is immediate and effective and I don’t have to go looking for the nearest mail box, nor do I have to be aware of the last pick up time.

And it bugs the heck out of me when e-mail is treated as a novelty, professionals and friends, who still view it only good for distributing ‘stuff’ found on the net that they think is funny, cute and amusing. 'That' is a blatant waste of ether.

While I’ve no time for that kind of abuse of a perfectly good technology, but who am I to complain. I'm filling an entire website dedicated to me, hehehe.

There’s always the back button!