First Email
Throughout history, there have been many inventions and discoveries that have changed the course of communication. Personally, I think the first email was one of the most prominent. Email’s starting point is very different from where it is today. In 1971, Ray Tomlinson invented what was called “electronic mail”. Tomlinson wanted something that would be an easy and fast way to communicate. So, he was testing out this new form of communication, electronic mail. He began working with ARPANET which was the networked email system. Tomlinson sent his first email to himself. He did this to make sure that the electronic mail was going to work before publishing his findings. Tomlinson needed to find a way to make sure that the message was getting sent to the right place, so he developed what we now know as the at symbol or “@”. This “@” makes it so the message is guided to the message at the right computer and right address. Just a short time later came American Online Echomail (AOL), Hotmail, Yahoo, and many others. 1993, the name electronic mail was substituted for email.
The email was an easier way to communicate, and free! It is delivered almost instantly which makes working through emails the best option. It also allows for in-text references and allows you to look back and have something in writing. This makes it so that if there is a miscommunication there is somewhere to reference to check what was said. I know personally having emails in writing has saved me. One of the most prominent advancements of having email is accessibility. You can access email from anywhere and on any computer as long as there is wifi.
There have been some people to say there are some disadvantages to having email. For example, The United States Postal Service. The Postal Service felt that email was going to be a threat to national security and it was not a good idea. Some people also felt that emails were too much to keep up with. When someone gets too many emails it can be easy to get stressed and feel like there's so much to do but taking it one step at a time can make it a lot easier to go through them all. It also really helps to stay on top of emails so they do not pile up. Emails also have been shown to lack a personal touch. There's nothing better than receiving a handwritten letter, or even a phone call. When you get an email even if it has the same exact words, it's not as heartfelt. Lastly, emails can cause miscommunications between the sender and the receiver. Non-verbal communication is so important and it is almost entirely cut off when communicating through email. There is no facial expression or tone, which personally are two of the easiest things for me to read someone off of.
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/05/infographic-evolution-of-email/238587/
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