Becoming a bankrupt - email style
May 26th 2007 08:59
Lately a number of people have declared ‘email bankruptcy’, by which they mean either one of two things: they will no longer correspond with anyone by email, or they have wiped all emails from their inbox, and are starting afresh with whatever arrives from then on.
The people who have been giving up on email include college professors, analysts, senior executives. Some say they were so overloaded with emails they could no longer do their work; others just got so far behind there was no way they could catch up.
But these people aren’t opting out of communication, just emails. They’re prepared to take phone calls, and written messages.
This rather seems to defeat the purpose, as an email can be answered when you wish, whereas a phone call must either be answered when the phone rings, or else you have to catch up with the person later – if you can.
Moreover, it may be just a matter of prioritising their time. I remember reading about both C S Lewis and William Barclay – prodigious writers, both. And both spent a good deal of time answering letters – by hand, in the days when typewriters were available, but weren’t always used by the writers themselves.
It seems to me that if men of this calibre could give part of their day to replying graciously to all comers, then other professors (both Lewis and Barclay worked in Universities) should have the ability to do the same. After all, emails don’t require you to address an envelope, lick a stamp, walk down to the post box or even use a letter opener. I write more ‘letters’ now, by email, than I ever wrote by snail mail – and I was pretty good at writing letters.
The people who have been giving up on email include college professors, analysts, senior executives. Some say they were so overloaded with emails they could no longer do their work; others just got so far behind there was no way they could catch up.
But these people aren’t opting out of communication, just emails. They’re prepared to take phone calls, and written messages.
This rather seems to defeat the purpose, as an email can be answered when you wish, whereas a phone call must either be answered when the phone rings, or else you have to catch up with the person later – if you can.
Moreover, it may be just a matter of prioritising their time. I remember reading about both C S Lewis and William Barclay – prodigious writers, both. And both spent a good deal of time answering letters – by hand, in the days when typewriters were available, but weren’t always used by the writers themselves.
It seems to me that if men of this calibre could give part of their day to replying graciously to all comers, then other professors (both Lewis and Barclay worked in Universities) should have the ability to do the same. After all, emails don’t require you to address an envelope, lick a stamp, walk down to the post box or even use a letter opener. I write more ‘letters’ now, by email, than I ever wrote by snail mail – and I was pretty good at writing letters.
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