There a few aspects of the internet that still exist from the time of its creation. Of these few, the most important is e-mail. E-mail, short for electronic mail, has allowed communication between parties to be facilitated and sped up. Over the years, the world has become more and more dependent on email, and it safe to say that email has all but replaced normal mail. To the question of whether email commands too much of our time, I would agree. On average, I spend at least 20 minutes a day reading and answering e-mails, and I am not a person who’s attention is always such as CEO’s, presidents, people of high authority etc.. I can only imagine how many emails they receive daily, if not hourly. As referred to in the article Going Postal, these people of high importance check the emails that pertain to their business even during personal time, and I believe that there must be a clear distinction between these two times, business and personal.
Although email has become increasingly intrusive into our lives, due to this current world wide dependence on email, I believe that it has become an essential part of both the business and social fabric. If I did not have access to email for more than a week, technically I would be fine; however I would probably be behind on many of the assignments/activities I would have to do. This is because most information is relayed to me via email, on both a personal and academic level. If I were held back by lack of email, it goes without saying that it would affect the lives of decision makers in a much greater fashion; and this would indirectly affect me as I depend on the decisions they make. Therefore I believe that email does command too much of our time, however it has become too closely tied with human activity to be ignored.
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You make a good comparison regarding the amount of emails that a student such as ourselves would receive as opposed to someone of higher status like a company CEO would. It's definitely more of an interference in the lives of these individuals that can dedicated over an hour answering emails, but like you, I never spend more than 20 minutes answering and checking emails. Another point that you brought up that I did not consider was how a lack of being able to access email would affect these individuals or "decision makers", and how in turn that would affect us. When I wrote my prompt I was only speaking about how I would respond to having no emails sent to me, not about how other people not receiving emails would affect me as well.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about the need to separate business and personal life. This is a major problem in families today, and is often depicted in movies and television as well. I have a few friends and family members that can not go on vacation without checking their emails/facebooks, and I think some people definitely need to set limits for themselves. However, this is a lot easier said than done. I spend over an hour checking my email every day, and there is always something of importance, so like you said, I can imagine how hard it must be for people in the business world with busy jobs that demand communication 24/7.
ReplyDeleteI like the point you made about how your social standing is directly proportional to how one is to appropriately manage their email use. Comparing how people who work in an office need their emails versus that of a student, there is no doubt which is more important to be thoroughly checked. The office worker may receive emails to notify them about important actions of their job, while a student has more leeway to not always be so active in their email use. For myself, there are many days that I am unable to check my email because of other priorities, but I am still able to maintain an equal standing in classes than other students. Yet if this occurred in an office, not being informed via email could result in being fired.
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