by Ravi Backerdan on July 28, 2021
Ever since the internet began to be used for communication, the amount of data individuals create digitally has risen steeply. Latest research indicates that people send more than 188 million emails every minute and enter 3.8 million Google queries. (Weforum)
The production of so much data has led philosophers to accept that in the coming age, personhood will not be an equation of body and mind, it must also take into account the digital being.
Some say that there will be so much online data left behind when a person dies that their bodies will be considered as informational corpses composed of emails, messages, media profiles, and search queries.
Carl Ohman (a digital ethicist) argues that the digital remains of the people should be valued as archaeological remains. However, between the war of digital and traditional means of communication stands the Printing Industry.
Emails are the one thing that raise complicated questions like:
What we know for sure is that, as long as humankind exists, they are going to need a channel of communication whether digital or traditional. By traditional communication means, we refer to hand-written documents like letters.
In any case, humans will also keep producing data for analysts and businesses. Thus, in future, this sentiment is what philosophers will need to mule over.
As we see it, mail will remain a vivid way to remember human connection while email will ensure posthumous existence.
“We have a rare chance to actually be ethically ready for new technology before it gets here, Or at least, before it goes any further.,” Patrick Stokes (author of Digital Souls) said.
For most part, Email has already replaced hand-written letters which is both great and disappointing. Life is in transit and everything, regardless of how we acknowledge it, is changing.
But what can never be changed is humankind’s yearning for emotions. It's the one thing we all love.
Why?
Because the sentiments it conveys are universal. Email is the same. It is quick and easy. But it’s not just as personal as traditional means of communication like direct mail.
Email is generally considered to lend ease and accessibility in connecting with people typically offering an advantage of time, zone, and intent.
For more formal communication, they are already a preferred means. However, there are still avid paper mail-fans who love to keep it traditional and they are fans of emails too.
Businesses are email dependent because they are quick to communicate especially in an environment like epidemics, and helping you to connect globally.
But today, when technology is encouraging concepts like- “Paperless Office”, the complete demise of traditional forms of communication is far.
It is quite possible that, in future, emails will incorporate fonts that will allow message creators to use their own handwriting in composing emails bringing a tryst between digital and traditional communication.
But this thought is yet to turn into reality.
For the time being, emails remain the official form of correspondence and hand-written letters for personal correspondence.
A shift in technology, whenever it happens, is bound to bring new innovations to existence. Just like email came about bringing along with it a new means of communication, research indicates that email won’t be among the prior means of correspondence. In fact, a latest study by Inc.com, estimates that with digital forms of communications like Twitter, Facebook, we have so many alternatives.
And, in relation to email, many companies are already using mixed forms of communication like- Campfire, Slack to create discussions helpful in archiving discussions as effectively as email.
But the problem with other communications is overloading. There are a number of portals launched as an attempt to gather business intelligence, but not they may not be good enough. And we can safely say that Email will not be replaced anytime soon.
But until there is a clear answer or replacement to emails, individuals in business will keep spending hours per week corresponding through emails.
The possibility of emails being replaced is hard to imagine for the next decade. The technology we have today tends to evolve, and morph into something new every year. And until that happens, Email will stay and bring a tryst in digital and traditional communication.