We started with normal post (snail-mail). This was a great way of keeping in touch with friends and relatives long distance. It was great because we learnt to take time in our writings, ensure that our message was a positive one where appropriate and ensuring that negative messages were carefully crafted. However, the time it takes to compose, send and receive a letter is measured in days or weeks.
We then invented fax, this was quick and convenient, however, the messages were still carefully constructed in the same way as for snail-mail but now the time taken between writing and delivery can be minutes or hours.
Next up is email. I don't know when the first emails were sent but since that time email has been hastily written and the send button has been all-too enticing.
Email can be one of the most destructive ways in which we communicate with one another. It has no emotion and no intonation. You send one message and the reader gets another. The message you send is not as important as the one that's received.
We have tried to fix this with emoticons eg. ;-) but still we fail. What happens if you send a single word reply "Yes"? It's too terse for most people to accept, they get upset by your monosyllabic response, they make assumptions based on how they feel about your reply rather than on how you sent it. Of course there is not a lot of information in the single word message but it is an incredibly effective way of saying "Yes" and it's also quicker and easier than having a conversation or writing an essay.
Email can be productive too, it allows us to say things we would normally be afraid or embarrassed to say. It allows us to say "I love you" to someone we lack the courage to face, and it allows us to carefully converse with people that are unreceptive to us normally.
In using email we discard a lot hidden signals that a normal conversation carries, and therein lies the problem. Even if you carefully consider all of the ramifications of every dot and comma, every nuance of every syllable you will still make mistakes, you will still send a message to the reader that was never actually written. It brings a whole new meaning to "reading between the lines".
But hey, it's not just me that thinks this way:
Watch Your Tone in Email Messages
E-Mail Communication and Relationships
Email and the Schmooze Factor
or some fancy email tricks to make your emails a little more emotive.