#randomthoughts #emailvsinstantmessaging #strangemiracle #digitalcommunication
💌 Remember the good old days when emails were the go-to form of communication? It’s a strange miracle that email survived after instant messaging became a thing. 🤯
In today’s fast-paced world, where instant gratification is the norm, it’s easy to see why email could have been rendered obsolete. But the truth is, email has stood the test of time and continues to be a vital tool for communication in both personal and professional spheres. Let’s dive deeper into this intriguing paradox.
The Rise of Instant Messaging
Instant messaging apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Slack have revolutionized the way we communicate. With just a few taps on our smartphones, we can send instant messages, photos, videos, and even make voice and video calls. The convenience and immediacy of instant messaging have made it a popular choice for quick, informal communication.
On the surface, it may seem like email is no match for the speed and efficiency of instant messaging. After all, who wants to wait for a response when you can get an instant reply from a friend or colleague? But there are some inherent qualities of email that have helped it withstand the rise of instant messaging.
The Permanence of Email
One of the key advantages of email over instant messaging is its permanence. When you send an email, it becomes a part of a conversation thread that can be easily referenced in the future. This can be especially useful in a professional setting, where you may need to revisit past communications for reference or documentation purposes.
Additionally, email allows for more formal and structured communication compared to the often casual nature of instant messaging. This can be beneficial when communicating with clients, colleagues, or other professionals where a certain level of formality is expected.
Embracing Both Worlds
While instant messaging may be more popular for quick, casual conversations, email still holds its own when it comes to formal and long-form communication. The key is to embrace both worlds and use each tool for its respective strengths.
By leveraging the speed and informality of instant messaging for quick updates and casual conversations, while reserving email for more formal communication and documentation, you can strike a balance that maximizes the benefits of both.
In conclusion, it’s indeed a strange miracle that email has survived the onslaught of instant messaging. But its enduring qualities of permanence, formality, and versatility have helped it remain a vital tool in our digital communication toolkit. So next time you’re about to hit send on that quick chat message, don’t forget the humble power of email. 📧📱
Forensic accountability and centralized hosting.
Not really. Even on a PC, emails create a better archiving and search system.
To put it differently. If my supervisor wants me to work on a project and emails me a pdf with the directions on how to make the product we need to test, it is a lot easier for me to use my email client’s search feature to find “Product XYZ” in my email then it would be to scroll through the thread on our internal IM client.
not at all. go back to your shower.
“it’s strange miracle that movies survived after everyone got smartphones to film themselves”
Sounds stupid, right?
They are basically the same thing. Differences arise in the way the clients work.
I worked at a slack all company with no email, and trying to find things you remember people said more than like a week ago was impossible
Being able to make topic-based threads is essential. I’ve got many ongoing different topics to discuss with my manager and just throwing them all into a single chat would be terrible for organization. Emails can be collected into threads and sorted into folders. My inbox acts as a mini to-do list.
Shit yo, faxes still exist.
For both work but especially for home, one thing I like about written messages is the communication is supposed to be asynchronous. That’s the main appeal.
But too many people take instant messaging (in all forms) to be *synchronous* conversations, like a phone call. There are tons of posts here about “why don’t people get back to me right away when I message them!?!?”.
With email at least there’s less of an expectation that the communication is synchronous. And I can use a real keyboard and monitor.
my email app has a lot more functionality than the text messaging app.
There’s a lot of people that I need to talk to, and I don’t nor do i want, their phone numbers
somethings don’t need to be real time and emails are more archivable than instant messengers
Email lost its front and center position as primary contact method in mainstream use but it is still quite alive and well in the professional realm. Governments will accept an email address as a contact method way faster than they’d accept your ICQ or AIM nick. Or whatever the kids use these days.
Email gets work done, IM is for dick pics and general grabassery.
I never understood why email isn’t considered instant messaging. You get them instantly* and yeah you may not reply instantly but how often do you reply to a text instantly if you’re not a teenager
Larger files can be sent via email than IM
have you ever worked an office job, friend? i feel like you haven’t worked an office job.
No it’s not. They perform two different functions.
I get so many Zoom IMs at work like this…
Them: You there?
Me: Yes.
Then I stare at “sender is typing” while I wait for several minutes. Eventually I get a message doesn’t really need an instanct response. Holy shit, just type it into an email and send it to me so A) I don’t have to wait while you type, and B) I can get back to you when I’m not in the middle of something, and C) I can easily forward it or include others in my reply and D) I can save the whole conversation if needed.
Where I live, South America, no one uses email. It’s WhatsApp all the way.
If you ask to email, people just stare at you. It’s still used for certain business situations, but more like the fax machine is still used.
Tell me you’ve never worked an office job without telling me you’ve never worked an office job.
Email is Gen Z’s Fax .
Fax machines hung around for decades after they should have been replaced. I bet some niche industries still use them.
Email will haunt gen z for another 20 years.
I thought we were going to eventually get rid of phone numbers. I was wrong.
Email very clearly fills a different niche to IMs.
Mail is still here when the fax came about. And everyone thought for sure mail and the fax were dead when email came about.
Personal vehicles were thought to kill the railway needs. Yet they are 100 times bigger than they were when the vehicle was in mass production.
AC power was thought to wipe out dc power and yet almost all devices, cars, and most motors run on DC.
If there’s a way to make money from something, it won’t go away.
OP’s comment probalby only makes sense to people who don’t use email for work. We use both email and chat at work and it would be chaos without email.
Not really. Email and texting are for two different things.
Written by somebody who never learned how to type and doesn’t have any messages of serious length to compose.
They serve two different purposes.
Nah, it’s really not, since IM was never meant for being able to access messages from more than a few days/weeks ago, not to mention long-term storage, etc. Also interaction via IM tends to require synchronous involvement by all parties whereas email is fire-and-forget – if you’re out of the office for the day you don’t miss every message that crosses your desk, they’re all there waiting for you when you get back without having to hunt through scrollback.
Lol it is very clear you have never worked in an office- emails are pretty much the king in that environment. IMs *are* useful but are a lot more limited when it comes to searching for key pieces of info, plus my company has a data retention policy which deletes older messages.Â
IM depends on the phone number, email is independent.
Try to share your email address and IM contact. Sharing email is easier.
One huge company can have email addresses with the same domain. What is the alternative in IM?
It’s not, it serves a different purpose.