Email has changed my life. For someone like me who's always had a pretty severe phone phobia, email makes it possible to stay in touch with people at arm's length. There's no tension, no trying to read verbal cues to assess how welcome or unwelcome my overture is. If someone doesn't want to hear from me, all he has to do is not respond. Of course, email has its own anxiety-producing elements (Was it sent? Was it received? Did I get an answer and delete it by mistake?), but those are nothing compared to phone trauma. Plus, email is accomplished via WRITING. Writing, I can do. I can take my time, editing as I go, until I'm satisfied with my message before I send it out into the ether. Written communication makes me feel so much safer than the oral kind.
But here's something I never would have suspected: everybody likes email. Evidently, there are a lot of people besides me who, for whatever reason, don't want to talk on the phone unless they have to. Who knew? Not everyone is addicted to real-time conversation across distances. In fact, most of us seem to agree that email is a boon to humankind.
So I have a modest proposal: would establishing a National Email Day be out of line? Please weigh in with your opinion! But don't call me - and I won't call you. (LOL!!) (yeah, I text too)
I prefer email, too. It's easier than trying to catch someone by phone. :)
ReplyDeleteYvonne
Thanks, Yvonne! You always manage to make me feel quasi-normal! See you tomorrow with the F-word.
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