Slashdot Mirror
E-mail Is For Old People
Strolls writes "Although the article itself doesn't seem quite as exciting or newsworthy, this headline from Reuters amused me mightily. Reuters' summary is here and here's the original survey by Pew Internet and American Life Project." From the article: "Internet users from 12 to 17 years old say e-mail is best for talking to parents or institutions, but they are more likely to fire up IM when talking with each other, the nonprofit Pew Internet and American Life Project found. E-mail is still used by 90 percent of online teens. But the survey found greater enthusiasm for instant messaging."
Of course kids are going to love instant gratification through real-time instant messaging as opposed to email. Until they grow up and find themselves in business situations where they're going to need to coordinate meetings, share presentations/comments and work with peers/partners who live in different time zones there simply isn't a need for them to use email. Can you imagine logging in and finding your desktop covered with IM pop-ups from customers and colleagues? It's just not practical in the business arena to use IM as the only means of communication.
"Simplify, simplify, simplify!" Thoreau
...AFTER they get a job. If I get less than 50 e-mails a day at work, it's a Christmas day miracle.
-Valiss
Did you hear that 18 year olds? You're old people now. Grab a prune-juice and check your email.
Starsucks
E-mail Is For Old People
So those VIAGRA spammers knew about this long before this research.
Thanks, here's another bomb: talking enthusiastically preferred to writing letters for conversation among peers located within 10 feet of each other.
stuff |
M is just the electronic equivalent of hanging out at the mall
IM is the electronic equivalent of telephones, which are a notorious teen passtime.
Raise your hand if you remember when the command for Instant Messaging was 'write'.
Apples are better than oranges.
Story at 11.
"it generally just feels childish and unprofessional"
I think you nailed why young people like it.
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
The main reason that instant messaging (IM) is popular among young adults is that it provides the kind of instant gratification that e-mail cannot provide. IM gives you instant interaction with the other party: friend, girl friend, etc. E-mail responses are usually not instantaneous and depend on whether the recipient of the e-mail note has logged onto her computer and actually read the note.
I knew it. Kids these days just wont take the time to type up an email. IM is just not as personal as actually having a letter in your InBox. It's just not the same. IM is going to be the downfall of sociaty.
Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
IM is a huge pain in the butt.
/. just have an article about three minute distraction intervals and the loss of creativity?
IM is a distraction.
IM is a total waste of my time.
I used IM for a very brief period and got sick of everyone expecting an answer __right__ __now__. So I no longer use it. Ever.
Didn't
Bingo!
You want an answer from me, send email.
When I get around to it, I'll read it. And then after that, when I get around to it, I'll answer it.
EMAIL works. IM interrupts work.
The main reason instant messaging (IM) became popular with me is that my buddy Thad lives in Kansas City, while I live in San Francisco, yet we both happen to be sitting in front of computers all day. I later realized that it allows me to chat with my friend Dave, who works in an office in Redwood City, and we could both say the most horrible, offensive, profanity-laden things without alarming all the people in the cubes next to us.
That's it. No pop psychology or armchair media-studies theories required.
Breakfast served all day!