The Lost Art of Emailing


Isn’t the email a wonderful thing?

E-mail. Electronic mail.

A beautiful concept, if you ask me. Britney Spears even wrote a song about it.

The 1990s, like, totally wowed everyone with the fastest form of communication available. And yet, in the year 2020, emailing is a controversial topic.

Some people love it. And some people hate it. There is no in between.

You sit down to the computer, mind focused, pointer fingers on the respective “f” and “j” keys. Typing class has nothing on you now because you can type 93 words per minute (true story). You crack your knuckles and begin typing. The words flow from your mind to your fingertips, and you’re lost in the current one-sided conversation you’re having.

E-mails are so versatile. They can be casual. They can be formal. They can be fun. They can be serious. Case in point below.

“omg hey grl !!! gr8 to hear from u! hope ur doing well, miss ya ilylas 🙂 ~~”
-2011 me

“To Whom It May Concern, I have recently read and dissected your article about the origins of human inequality, and I concede that your results are truly insightful. May you be so kind as to share them with me for the purposes of an article I am writing? Cordially,”
-2020 me

See? Beautiful. I can change my tone, the register of language, and my expressions. (Plus, my handwriting is tragic, so a typed letter is better for anyone involved.)

I know what you purists are saying.

I, too, am a fan of letter writing. But let’s be honest, sometimes it takes a little too long.

So, some of my close friends and I have opted to email each other our letters instead. It’s more practical in a quarantine age where touching anything requires immediate disinfecting.


How do you feel about emailing? Are you an avid emailer ? A person who leaves their inbox with 30,000 unread emails (Mom…)? Someone who prefers another form of communication? Perhaps write me an email to answer these questions.

P.S. Here’s the Britney song. E-mail My Heart, baby.

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One response to “The Lost Art of Emailing”

  1. I’m not a huge fan of communicating online, but I think that some kind of e-mails can be pretty nice (like communicating totally unofficially over e-mail). But I would prefer hand-written letters.

    Like

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