Thursday, February 3, 2011
E-mail is not 'snail mail' for me
The article, "Email has become the new snail mail," was very interesting to read. I believe that for the most part it is very true. People are finding new and faster ways to communicate with each other; everyone has tex messaging, facebook, or something similar. People are on facebook on their phones, constantly texting back and forth, and no longer using regular e-mail. It's all about getting to the point as fast as possible. We don't have time to wait on e-mail replys anymore, we want the answer as soon as we ask the question. Granted, it is much easier to text or IM to find out what someones weekend plans are, but I can't stand people who are constantly texting back and forth. I'll admit that I used to be one of those people when I first started college. I checked my facebook every 5 minutes, I was talking with 10-15 people at a time on IM, I even sent IM's to my roommate across the room instead of talking to him. It was fun. It was a new way of life for me. After a month or two I did those things less and less and by the end of the year I had pretty much quit using facebook and sending IM's. I got my first cell phone the day I moved into my freshman dorm. I was texting everyone I could possibly think of. That too, however, got old very fast. That was six years ago and I still can't stand sending texts and I haven't looked on my facebook page in over 6 months. I check my e-mail constantly throughout the day. Every time in go into my office at work I will check my work e-mail and my personal e-mail accounts. E-mail is how I communicate iwth the rest of the world. E-mail will never become 'snail mail' for me.
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I agree, email will continue to be around for some time. The only problem I have with it is that some people forget who they are sending messages to and they begin writing like they are IMing. I had the opportunity to serve on an interview committee and one of the candidates for the job position was asked to type his responses to a series of questions and I was shocked when I read his document. There were no complete sentences and every reference to "I" was written as "i" and every other word was misspelled. Some technology is causing us to lose some of our basic writing skills. No, he didn't get the job, although he was one of the better candidates for the position. His writing skills suck.
ReplyDeleteI, too, am concerned with the affect the abreviated spellings and more casual grammar will have on young people's literacy skills. To add to that, there doesn't seem to be much emphasis in elementary classrooms on the mechanics of grammar (guess that's the Whole Language influence). Maybe I'm showing my age, but I always saw mastery of Standard American English and writing skills (both content and mechanics) as an indicator of competence.
ReplyDeleteI had a friend text me recently, and then complain, when I saw him, that I didn't respond to the text. Well I don't text. In fact, the only reason I have a cell phone in the first place is so my kids school can reach me or in case my car breaks down. If the kids are with me, I don't answer it. Not everyone texts.
This is a great post and I agree with Bbop and Nicole. In another class, we were discussing this same issues with the the texting language. I belive people use it so much that they dont realize when its inappropiate to use it. Even studnets turn in papers with the same errors. Times have really changed.
ReplyDeleteLike you Aaron, I loved facebook, but it is not a priority for me and it has been a while since I have logged into my accout as well. Although I rarely check my personal email account...I always check my work account in fact some of my oersonal contact (very few) contact me on my work emil. Is that bad (smile).
Wonder what the new "tech" thing is going to be?
It's amazing how quickly things change. I am still an email user and I think that will always be my preference. A couple of weeks ago, I was sending an email and my 10 year old son commented on me sending an email. He said, "Mom no one sends emails anymore, they use Facebook." He thought that was the funniest thing.
ReplyDeleteTechnology is great but we really need to make sure that we are preparing our students for the real world. Email communication is the #1 communication method in the workplace. Knowing how to write and communicate clear messages are critical in any work environment. Texting language and slang are unacceptable and regardless of whether it's right or wrong, you are judged by how well you communicate.
Aaron, that’s a great topic. I have to admit…email is a necessity for me as well. With some of the programs I’m in at church and in the community, I’m constantly informed or updated by members through my personal email. Actually, it’s synced to my BlackBerry (which can be a nuisance at times with the ever too frequent ‘Macy’s’ and ‘Nine West’ weekly announcements). But, with it on my phone, I can keep up with the happenings. Ironically, years ago I wouldn’t have thought about checking my email so much on my phone until I opted to follow my employer’s urgency to sync our work email accounts to our phones (constant buzzing that I don’t miss…Eek!)
ReplyDeleteI do love Facebook, but similar to T.S. Long, it’s not my main priority. Although I check it on occasion, I don’t make changes to my status every 10 minutes. However, I do have a habit of texting. My brothers, (amazingly my mom!) and a couple of my friends text me throughout the day. For those longer messages, however, I make it my business to call or send an email. I do agree with everyone that the text language/slang is not appropriate in writing deliverables and should seriously be addressed with our young people who are replacing the Standard English language with this dreadful habit in their work.
Aaron, I enjoyed reading your comments on email being the new 'snail mail.' I guess it really all depends on the person. I agree with you because I also check my email frequently, and I think it is the more professional way of communicating. Typically, you wouldn't send a text message or 'tweet' to your boss or college professor. Email is definitely more appropriate, and these days, emails can be retrieved right from your phone making it just as fast as sending a text message. I was in high school when I first got into sending text messages all the time. It was fun until my dad got the phone bill. That was almost six years ago, and I still don't send text messages. I would definitely prefer to send an email. I think that regardless of what someone's preference is, email will always have a place in society.
ReplyDeleteAaron:
ReplyDeleteI agree with you 'email will never be snail mail' for me either. I don't do texting or facebook. I think that so many lives have been lost because of texting. I have not taken the time to create a facebook account and I don't have a desire to. I think email is enough for me. I too check my email frequently both at home and work. I check 2 or 3 times a day. I feel as if I have something so important to say or find out, I will pick up this good ole thing called the telephone. I can't believe that some of these young people would rather text than talk. My daughter is into texting and it could have cost her her life. It was in May of 2008, she was texting while driving and lost control of the car, she crossed the center line and a truck was coming, she then jerked the steering wheel and went air borne flipping the car. The car's damage was more than the car was worth, which didn't even matter because she was alive and the only scratches she had were 3 seat belt burns. The shoes she had on her feet was underneath the car. This could have caused her to be killed and my grandson to be without his mother (this happened the day he turned 3 months old).
This project was my first time creating a blog. I was a little hestiate but I'm glad I was given the challenge. I look forward to chatting with you. :-)
ReplyDelete