Friday Fun: RIP Email (An Obituary)

For the record. We still have mad love for Email.

But, we’re also loving some new ways to communicate that are significantly cutting back on internal Email clutter. (Have you Slacked anyone today?)

It got us thinking about a world without Email. And, not to get morbid or anything, what Email’s obituary would look like. So obviously we had to write one.

Email 1993 – 2015

Electronic mail, or Email as it became known, succumbed to the big tech cloud in the sky on Friday, June 5, 2015. It was 22 years old.

Born around 1993 during the difficult days of dial-up Internet and the decline of snail mail, Email came bouncing into the world requiring that both users be available “on-the-line” to transmit text-only messages. Eventually Email blossomed into the mainstay message mechanism of our very existence, full of colorful texts, laughable GIFs, attachments on top of attachments, and the option to sneakily blind copy users on a message.

When Email came into our lives everything changed. The days of endless conference calls were quickly replaced with long chains of emails (that may or may not have had anything to do with you). Email also introduced a number of other “e” things. So, instead of waiting for birthday cards to arrive in the mail, you could now receive “eCards” of dancing cupcakes.

Soon the world realized that one Email wasn’t enough. We needed multiple Email accounts for work and play that were available to us 24/7 via our desktops, and later, laptops, smartphones, and, tablets. Checking Email became an addiction that many couldn’t let go, even while sitting on a tropical sandy beach during a luxurious getaway. Our beloved Email was always there. It became a celebrity among all forms of communication.

Email was the grandfather of the next generation of communication: instant messaging. Instant messaging provided the detailed profiles and insight into real-time emotions and availability, that email just couldn’t. Even though AOL AIM (may it, too, rest in peace) couldn’t survive forever, we learned in the 2000s that instant messaging was here to stay with Gchat from Google. What we never could have imagined was that instant messaging would get a designer’s makeover and take Email’s role in business. Lync, Spark, Slack, and Skype all gave us the emojis we needed to express our true feelings to our co-workers, while keeping the work conversations short and out of Email.

What was once the most innovative form of communication to arrive, well, ever, email declined further when it became the least attractive option for getting a point across. It even got to the point where a formal Email signoff was not required or expected. Email was no longer the end all be all of communication in the business world and did not fit how modern users conversated anymore.

Email is survived by…well….umm…Thanks for the memories old friend.

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