The carrier pigeon. The snail mail. The telegraph. The call. The email. The text. The social media. And yet, one of these, created almost six decades ago, persists in our day-to-day lives.
Email has been around since as early as 1965, but by the early 2000s, email had become an essential tool for personal and business communication, largely due to its convenience, speed, and low cost compared to other communication methods. With no signs of slowing down, in 2022, an estimated 333 billion emails were sent and received daily around the world. But why is it still so relevant?
Email has influenced society in countless forms, from business to marketing, and particularly identity. Email adopted the ‘@’ symbol in 1971 when Ray Tomlinson decided to use it to specify the destination of emails being sent to users on certain computers. From then on, ‘@’ gradually became a universal character used to refer to someone or something. For instance, while creating a post for social media, following the at sign with a username tags the owner of the social media account linked to that username.
I think that the ways many of us, Gen Zers, have anonymously expressed ourselves in online communities, and how we currently converse with AI tools, have made our dialogue occasionally sound more brash. For the sake of being more direct and blunt, our “What’s on your mind?” mentality sometimes foregoes the feelings that might be impacted when we say something. This doesn’t mean we have to shut up or fake it, as some of us tend to incorrectly conclude, but instead rephrase our ideas in a more empathetic way.
Sending an email always has this aura of necessary formality surrounding it, especially since people typically think of higher-ups in their lives when doing so (i.e. bosses, professors, and community leaders). This naturally results in many emails people send carrying an extra polite and professional tone. However, this doesn’t mean an email platform has to always be so strict and boring. Many people use it for things like digital time capsules, text-based role-playing games, art sharing, and, of course, the occasional casual exchange.
I always say that the Internet is an extension of us; email is no different than the messages from a carrier pigeon in this sense. Whether online or in-person, we share parts of who we are to different people at different degrees and tones. However, in an effort to compartmentalize our identity, we create various social profiles where each of them works efficiently in the setting it surrounds itself in. This also ends up affecting the range of how thoughts are expressed, from “Greetings, Mr. XYZ” to “u wanna bet? lmao”.
Hypothetical example: your best friend loses someone they love. You can certainly text them something simple like “May they rest in peace 😔” or “My thoughts are with you 🙏”. However, although the thought might be appreciated, it’s important to note how your friend most likely received tons of similar messages. Why not show your friend that you took time to comfort them instead?
“Hey, [your friend’s name]. I was heartbroken to hear about ABC passing recently. I know you guys were really close and I can’t imagine the pain you’re going through. I will never forget the way you talked about them with such joy, especially when we were at their house. I’m here to listen, to support, or simply sit in silence with you, whatever you need. Take all the time you need to grieve and heal. Remember that there is no rush in this process, and that, as always, I’ll be by your side. Your friend, [your name]”
Everyone, especially people from generations before mine, craves that sense of deeper connection and vocabulary with others that’s starting to become scarce these days. Email sits in the middle of today’s vast social media landscape as a means of making people practice expanding their range of expressions for every type of communication, instead of constantly relying on a brevity of characters to quickly send a message and get it over with.
Calling someone is now usually more of a personal or necessary thing. Texts these days are typically for informal exchanges, mini games, and transactions with a wider set of people. Email has become the destination for everything from work stuff to ads to the chicken soup recipe you begged your abuela to send you. Some of the most popular email platforms, like Gmail and iCloud Mail, also allow users to access a plethora of other services after creating their email accounts. Email platforms offer us a lot more these days versus other communication methods and, by doing so, lay the groundwork for adding depth to the way you express yourself in other places.
Email could be considered the messiest platform to communicate on, but it remains one of the few central hubs of online information recognized worldwide. With the expanding functionality (and identity, by proxy) of email accounts, it’s not surprising that people are creating multiple ones. This also explains why email is likely to have a mainstay in pop culture for much longer than skeptics, who question its relevance every other year, anticipate. ■