Decline of the e-mail

I'm in the computer stores all the emails that I sent or received since 1992. Not counting spam, this database consists of about half a million letters from such different (or similar, depending which side of the watch) characters like Larry Ellison and Larry Flynt. But lately, my e-mail seems to be dying. And your way, too.

Reasons for decline in popularity email complicated, but somehow everything is connected with changing conditions and increasing competition from other modes of transmission of information. In 1992, the role of a tool to perform e-mail communication (while I enjoyed the cc: Mail, MCI Mail and Internet mail), regular mail, Usenet-groups, bulletin boards, such as The WELL, telephone and fax. Today, this set is almost completely changed. Now I mainly use internet mail, regular mail, SMS, various instant messenger (Skype, iChat, ICQ, etc.), Twitter , Facebook and other social networks and, more importantly for me, WordPress. But the bulletin boards - have in the past, as well as private email system. I threw away my fax for a long time, but Usenet has been completely substituted with the Internet.

The joy of working with e-mail for regular users was poisoned by spam. In the early 90's I was an active correspondence with readers, while in the inbox, I almost ran into spam. I did not need to seek out the important messages in a sea of spam messages. Social networks still did not decide for us whom we should communicate. Then, via email I could reach out to almost everyone. And they could easily respond to me.

Then came spam, and ruined everything. I hate spam. I feel that spam and all the spam industry has betrayed me. But the proposals have been effective against spam, which, inter alia, provided for charging Internet service providers for each message sent. These proposals failed because it seemed to many, in fact they are only an attempt to restrict freedom of speech on the web, or violate the principle of network neutrality. But how can I like to see this scheme to work. I would gladly pay a few dollars a month to get rid of spam.

But instead we habitually added to the mail program an additional layer that helps to fight against spam. Spam is actually equated to viruses and Trojans, and the battle against him was the same big business, as, indeed, itself spam. In the end, I still pay the two dollars, but now that money is not going to destroy the spam as a phenomenon. Just now it is on me.

The next blow to the e-mail to me personally has been the transition to WordPress blogohostingovuyu system in late 2008. Then I shut down the column, which led to the website of the U.S. TV channel PBS. I replaced an outdated system to the new and the result was a revelation to me. Firstly, I once got rid of two extra layers for editing the material, and secondly, changed quite a mediocre interface is very easy to use. However, this transition there were unintended consequences. The fact that the volume has fallen substantially letters that came in my mailbox. After all, now readers can leave comments on the same page (and these comments are visible to everyone). As a result, they stopped writing me letters. And frankly, I miss them. Of course, such a system is much more convenient, but it is not so interesting, I suppose.

Well, last year there was another jump. At the same time the popularity of Facebook and typed the mobile Internet. Now, with smartphones, we have unprecedented access to e-mail. But despite this, it seems to me that we are sending fewer letters. Instead, we send SMS-message and go to the pages of social networks through their mobile phones.

On regular users of Facebook made roughly the same effect on me - go to WordPress. We all have to send and receive fewer messages. Because now each entry on a wall or a chat message replaces the one and sometimes several emails.

And do not forget that the young generation of Internet users, and it's all teenagers do not use e-mail. They have already made their choice in favor of a much more rapid and personal SMS-messages.

Of course, e-mail will never die completely. But I feel that it is already losing a key audience and its popularity is rapidly declining. That's why, when Facebook introduced a draft Titan - a new platform for communication between users, it was so hard to explain what it represents in fact. Mark Zuckerberg and his comrades want to Titan has become a ubiquitous tool for communication. But they realize that they actually can not stand up and publicly declare that their child will destroy all other means of communication. Facebook does not want to be perceived as a predator, when in fact social network - this is a predator.

But we must remember that predators - an integral part of any healthy ecosystem. So perhaps, this change for the better. Although that makes me no less sad.