Every day I wake up in the morning and check my e-mail. Throughout the day I find myself checking the inbox several more times. Late at night, right before I go to bed, I check it again. Ellen Ullman shares a similar compulsive behavior with me. Even though we know we should be doing our work, or going to bed before 3 in the morning, we can not resist checking the inbox. The addictive desire to read every last e-mail received for me comes out of a fear that I might miss something important. However, for Ellen Ullman it is more out of a fear that she would be incredibly lonely without this "personal" interaction.
Another point of comparison between me and Ullman is our purpose behind using e-mail. For Ellen Ullman, e-mail begins as a tool used to communicate about matters related to work. However, she then begins to use it primarily for personal communication. E-mail becomes the developing medium for her relationship with Karl. The relationship does not even exist in person for quite some time. Even when they were working on a project face to face no sign of the online relationship was present. For me, e-mail is used primarily to conduct work and I do not foresee me ever using it as a means for starting a relationship. My online persona and feelings are no different than my feelings in the real world.
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You did a good job being clear about what your two specific points of comparison were. In the first paragraph you explain and relate your behaviors and their similarities very well, ending with a good transition that leads into the next paragraph. The second paragraph is slightly unbalanced in the sense that you talk for a vast majority of it about Ellen's behaviors, while you only use two sentences in the end that compare your own behaviors. I would have liked to see a tad more explanation of your own attitude regarding the second point of comparison.
ReplyDeleteI like your point of comparison that you and Ellen both have a reason to read email compulsively. I also read my email multiple times during the day because of your same reason. Your evidence successfully proved this point of comparison. I think in your second paragraph you could have explained a little more why you use email mainly for work. Great job fully explaining Ellen’s purpose of using email.
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