Email: Slowly Dying or Going Strong?
I read an interesting article today in response to another controversial article about the “death of email”. I find it humorous that the poor woman who was nearly persecuted for her article, never said email was dying, just losing popularity and prominence. I guess there’s still some dispute on that idea. But I disgress.
I think it’s interesting that no matter how wonderful and revolutionizing a new technological advancement is, four groups of people emerge. *Note: Sometimes this does not happen because this advancement dies off before adoption by the majority takes place.
1. There’s a small group of activists who are overly excited about how wonderful and convenient this new *fill in the blank* is, how it will dramatically change how we communicate/entertain ourselves/do business/whatever else you can think of! And before you know it, <normal device that is working perfectly fine right now> will be completely replaced by this new *fill in the blank*!!!
2. There is a larger group of people who are interested, skeptical, briefly fascinated, or bored who try this New Big Thing and make up their mind about it. And, regardless of whether they use it or not, still use the old way or the other way of doing things for some time. The adoption rate by this group is usually the deciding factor of whether this technological development will become commonplace.
3. There is an equally large (usually) group of people who know very little about this so called New Big Thing that everyone who’s anyone is using and don’t really care about it, and wait to adopt the trend when the hype (and often the price) goes down. They adopt this technological advancement after several years when all the kinks have been ironed out, and when they discover this is a more efficient method of doing what they do.
4. There is a small group of people who are utterly clueless and will continue using their “extremely out of date and oh-so-not popular” method of doing things and will be perfectly content with it. This group only adopts the thing when their technologically advanced friends or relatives coerce them into updating or their local provider no longer offers the old way.
Nuff said. This happened for cars, telephones, and tv’s and is still happening to today with broadband Internet services, smartphones, blue-ray and facebook.
Because of group 3, and especially 4, there are still people using rotary phones, dial-up, and hand-written letters.
If it wasn’t for group 2, and especially 1, we wouldn’t know about some great conveniences that have truly improved our lives.
The truth is, the new big thing has its place for the people who like new things and need the change. But there will always be room for the good old days and the traditional forms of transportation, communication, education, and entertainmentation… *ahem* I mean… (hehe!)
I still remember in middle school, the first time that my little world was shattered by a Group 1 futuristic hopeful who told me that telephones would soon no longer be used anymore. But by now these future-thinkers don’t phase me. So lets not get our undies in a bundle! Email isn’t going anywhere! Just like radio, newspapers, dial-up, and telephones. They still have a purpose to serve.
So… what group are you in?
From Then to Now: The Post Office
The Internet has become a vital resource for information throughout the world. This simply shows how fast our world is changing, considering the Internet was unheard of 20 years ago. Communication is one of the most prominent uses of Internet services and computers today, and we’ve come so far from our earliest records of communication. The following posts will share some of our greatest events in the history of communication, and compare it to our high-tech, high-speed transfer of information today. Here is a look at a well known establishment that enabled and revolutionized communication, how it started, and where it is today.
The Post Office
Then: The very first postal service was in China in 900 BC and was for government use. The Romans established their first post office in 14 AD.
In the US, the first post office was in Boston, starting in 1639. Of course, the Pony Express is a well known early mail delivery system, which began in 1861. In 1918, scheduled airmail began.
Now: The US Post Office launched its Internet site in 1994. The Internet continues to play a significant role in the post offices. On their website, you can report a change of address, track packages as they are being shipped, create personalized stamped envelopes, and print postage labels, or shipping supplies, and look up shipping information.
Email and business websites have eliminated the need for countless items at one time handled solely by the Post Office. Personal letters to friends, billing statements, reciepts, newsletters, and catalogs are often only transferred online. Many companies encourage their customers to do most of their business online to avoid the abundant use of paper and save the cost of postage.
A recent article stated that this drop in mail volume has strongly effected the US Postal Services. Staff was cut by 25,000 this year alone, routes are being dropped and combined, and the price of postage was raised in efforts to cover losses. Competitors like UPS and FedEx handle many shipping items once handled by the USPS. The economy has also caused a major drop in advertising by mail, which is another major factor in the reduced mail volume.
Even after the economy bounces back, mail volume is not expected to increase. In the near future, some small town post offices and branch offices may close, and delivery may reduce to 5 days a week.
Internet services, computers, and life 