Hello! My name is Jennifer. I'm a Senior in ISST (engineering- Information Sciences Systems & Technology). It's a relatively new major within the college of engineering. I really love how the major allows me to take interesting courses beyond stereotypical engineering courses -- such as Comm 245.
So a enormous Internet-phenomenon that still befuddles me is the huge surge in the urgency and absolute necessity of checking our email multiple times a day. Why are we so attached to our email inbox and when did emails become so important? I can understand the benefits of having email, but why does email command an immediacy not even my voicemail can command. I myself have been really bad at checking my email, until I recently installed an email notification program. Now I have the great honor of knowing instantaneously when I received an email and who sent it. I can also double click the program's shortcut icon and be immediately linked to my email inbox. I must say that I have become quite addicted.
Email has become so grossly important that even my mom hounds me after only a day of no response (which is an insanely long time now-a-days apparently). I find this surprising because I'm still in a mindset where email is just another source of convenience we use on the Internet and not a necessary tool. More technology has been created to facilitate the ever increasing NEED for emails, primarily the Blackberry (fondly termed the 'Crackberry' by some of my friends) which is a PDA Cellphone that allows checking of email in the palm of your hand. Most of my family and close friends have a Blackberry which leaves me in a bind as I attempt to keep up with the huge stream of emails.
Wallace states emails is part of the "Electronic Mail" Internet environment; its importance parallel to the importance of the Web. The "Electronic Mail" environment has evolved since its origins; while mostly an asynchronous environment, emails often enter an almost synchronous environment as well! Thanks to Blackberrys and email notifiers, it is not uncommon to receive responses within a minute or two. This delay is sometimes even shorter than response times in synchronous environments described in Wallace's book such as chat rooms, IMs, and MUDs!
The "Electronic Mail" environment is for the most part a non-anonymous environment. It is possible for the "Electronic Mail" environment to become an anonymous dimension, if emails are sent to people met through other Internet dimensions (i.e. chat rooms, metaworlds, the World Wide Web). Excluding spam and list-serves, the email we receive is from a known acquaintance, and if the sender is in fact unknown, their identity is often quickly revealed within the first few sentences or in the signature. This leads into the varying language of this environment which ranges from casual (where often no salutation or goodbye is necessary) to business emails. Through our language, signature listing various associations and achievements, email font and color, and email address, an identity is created in the "Electronic Mail" environment, which can be altered for various situations and people.
Wallace's book, though outdated, recognized the emergence of email as a growing, addictive component of our lives. I wonder if he ever imagined the sheer magnitude the sending of emails has reached currently. Even now, if I don't check my email the moment I wake up I feel antsy because I might be missing crucial information for the day! I wish I had a Crackberry.
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2 comments:
Hey Jennifer!
Here's something I find interesting--you describe a phenomenon that afflicts your friends, family, and generally your social environment. Especially in the Cornell bubble, e-mail is a part of life that no one questions. We're assigned a no-nonsense e-mail address the summer before we even get here, and from then until we graduate (or later) it's our connection to everyone we know. Checking your inbox (that you never actually asked for) is absolutely a social obligation, as your mother has recognized :)
But it's certainly not a part of everyone's life. I'm going to have to go without statistics here because the search terms I've been using haven't yielded much, but I doubt you can argue against this: there are many Americans without Internet access, and certainly many people worldwide in the same place. Your post sounded a little negative about the inconvenience and stress e-mail adds to your life, but I wonder what opportunities it takes away from people who don't have it. At the risk of sounding a little childish, would you rather you (and the people who send you e-mail) could back up and live without it?
Hi Jennifer!
I agree with your post. The email, as explained by Wallace, is a system of interaction, which allows sending private messages to either one specific person or to a group of people.
I check my email as soon as I wake up, before classes, after classes, in between classes, when I get home, before dinner, after dinner and every time I'm near a computer. Is it really necessary? Do I receive new and urgent emails every time I check my inbox? Answer: Yes, I do receive new emails every time I check but No, none of them are urgent. So why do I constantly feel the urge to be connected with the rest of the world? This is also why I've been fighting the urge to purchase a blackberry. Why would a college student ever need to access their email accounts on the go, 24/7, anywhere in the world?
We all need to take a deep breathe, step back and relax. I don't believe we should cut emails out of our lives, but checking it more than 3 to 4 times a day, while on vacation or in the middle of the night are all unnecessary. Unless it's for work...
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