Why I hate email
I've been ruminating on this post for awhile. I hate email. Now, I appreciate email in the workplace. It allows you to archive discussions so you can remember/prove who said what when and what was promised/decided. I support work email 100%. What I don't like is personal email.
It's one thing to email a bunch of people when you're trying to coordinate something. Or sending out an email to a bunch of people with an announcement, change of phone number, etc. Logistically, email makes sense in those types of situations. It all comes down to the personal, friendly, chatty emails. I hate those. I much prefer to pick up the phone and call someone. I have kept very good friendships going with people all over the country with phone calls every couple months. Sometimes those calls are 10 minutes, sometimes they are two hours. I hate how stilted and drawn out some emails are. You ask questions, you reply to questions, you make comments. And you wait to see if they'll reply and the conversation continues. And then if they don't reply you wonder if you should send another email or just let it die. Argh.
Just recently I got email on myspace from an old friend from college. We were in Filmboard together and he was in law school. We lost touch after college and later I found his profile on myspace. So, I emailed him a 'hi, is this who I think it is?' kind of email. Almost a year later he checked his profile and responded. We've emailed a couple times. I hate these types of emails. I don't know what to say. It such a horrible conversation. And the really sucky part is that I feel I'm a funny person. I am in no way a 'comedian' cause I can't tell a joke to save my life, but somehow, when I'm talking to people, I make them laugh. Tone of voice and sarcasm are my art. None of that comes through in email. And usually, the comments that make people laugh are completely spontaneous. Email is not spontaneous. It's scripted, edited, spellchecked, reviewed, and reviewed again before the SEND button is hit. Real converstations flow, evolve, and you never know what topics will be brought up. This is probably one of the reasons I haven't gone on match.com or eharmony. I've met several people that have had a lot of success meeting cool people on these websites, but it all comes down to email, doesn't it? IMing is fun, though. That's practically a phone conversation as long as both people can type fast.
For some reason though, I do like writing letters. Randy and I had been sending letters back and forth for years before he started blogging. Letters are fun - probably cause I've got a shit load of panda stationary to use! heh.
It's one thing to email a bunch of people when you're trying to coordinate something. Or sending out an email to a bunch of people with an announcement, change of phone number, etc. Logistically, email makes sense in those types of situations. It all comes down to the personal, friendly, chatty emails. I hate those. I much prefer to pick up the phone and call someone. I have kept very good friendships going with people all over the country with phone calls every couple months. Sometimes those calls are 10 minutes, sometimes they are two hours. I hate how stilted and drawn out some emails are. You ask questions, you reply to questions, you make comments. And you wait to see if they'll reply and the conversation continues. And then if they don't reply you wonder if you should send another email or just let it die. Argh.
Just recently I got email on myspace from an old friend from college. We were in Filmboard together and he was in law school. We lost touch after college and later I found his profile on myspace. So, I emailed him a 'hi, is this who I think it is?' kind of email. Almost a year later he checked his profile and responded. We've emailed a couple times. I hate these types of emails. I don't know what to say. It such a horrible conversation. And the really sucky part is that I feel I'm a funny person. I am in no way a 'comedian' cause I can't tell a joke to save my life, but somehow, when I'm talking to people, I make them laugh. Tone of voice and sarcasm are my art. None of that comes through in email. And usually, the comments that make people laugh are completely spontaneous. Email is not spontaneous. It's scripted, edited, spellchecked, reviewed, and reviewed again before the SEND button is hit. Real converstations flow, evolve, and you never know what topics will be brought up. This is probably one of the reasons I haven't gone on match.com or eharmony. I've met several people that have had a lot of success meeting cool people on these websites, but it all comes down to email, doesn't it? IMing is fun, though. That's practically a phone conversation as long as both people can type fast.
For some reason though, I do like writing letters. Randy and I had been sending letters back and forth for years before he started blogging. Letters are fun - probably cause I've got a shit load of panda stationary to use! heh.
posted by Speck at
8:57 PM
1 Comments:
It's so hard getting back in touch with people through e-mail. I never know where to begin. Do they want to hear what I've been up to? What kinds of things would they be interested in hearing? And because you can't see them or hear the pauses in conversation it's hard to gauge.
But there's something about letter writing that's different. Somehow seeing someone's handwriting makes it more personal. I've got lots of stationery, too. I guess I should start writing you letters!
By
inertbat, at 1:20 AM, August 13, 2007
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