Email is 50 this year…its Golden Anniversary!  It ‘happened’ in 1971 when Ray Tomlinson, the late computer engineer and first user, sent a transmission to himself utilising two independent computers…a revolutionary innovation at the time.  The content of that primordial message is long forgotten and the same may also be the fate of many of the ~300 billion emails that are sent almost every day by the estimated 4 billion users around the world.  Communication is said to bring us together or set us apart and email is no different.

This communication medium has proliferated and “@”, once the exclusive symbol of accounting and invoicing, is now perhaps the most common symbol on the planet and indispensable to any keyboard.  “@” despite being the subject of a trademark dispute doesn’t even have a recognised name.  It’s been termed ‘arroba’, or ‘strudel’ or even ‘alphasand’ after “&” but in everyday-speak it’s just plain “at”.

50% of the world now has an @ as part of their name as email propagates and provides almost instantaneous transmittal and receipt with ubiquitous accessibility.  Email exemplifies today’s Information Age and our belief in effective and efficient communication.  However, the truth behind the belief is somewhat different; for some email can be a blessing while for others it’s the bane of their lives.  But no matter what, it’s an addiction; people need their fix but how may this metaphorical fix be fixed.

Blessing, for Some

Email, for some, provides the opportunity to cast their communication net far and wide in the optimistic hope of landing a healthy catch of replies or even just ‘reads’.  They ‘reach out’ indiscriminately to multitudes through various address groups.  The interest or even disinterest of recipients is not even considered by the sender as they take pride in keeping anybody and everybody in the proverbial ‘loop’ of their influence.

Human interaction is removed and the pretense of seeming to be interested in another person’s view, or making time for contemporaneous communication is obviated.  This antisocial distancing in both time and space allows email maestros to record email exchanges rather than casual conversation, not for posterity, but for covering their posteriors in case anything goes wrong.

It is said that verbal communication isn’t worth the paper it’s written on and ‘hearsay’ is not necessarily considered as admissible evidence.  Emails, on the other hand, or a lack of response to them, are considered irrefutable, irrevocable and unequivocal ‘evidence’.  A hasty response, hostile riposte or stubborn silence could well prove to be a damming discovery in the cold light of a future day to the dismay of some and the delight of others.

When something goes wrong email also allows people the opportunity to get in with their version of the truth first and include a potential cast of thousands.  Even if the ‘truth’ is a paltering inexactitude this time-honored way of deflecting blame is a sure-fire way of garnering support, or even sympathy under the guise of ‘transparent communication’ to “All Users”.  Such entrepreneurial emails can galvanize support or balkanize differences and a twisting tail of trailing mails can support their version of the truth and provide the documentation to prove it.

Bane, for Others

Emails are pushed into our in-boxes and often expose us to issues that are not really our concern by people we may not even know.  “Is my opinion being sought?” we ask ourselves as or are we merely being informed and involved?  “Read Receipt request” prompts another question that we must ask ourselves. Is this really to acknowledge that a message has been read or, if not responded to a guilty action of ‘refusal’ or a veiled and possibly sinister demand to ‘speak now or forever hold thy peace’?  It is said that “what can’t speak can’t lie” so emails are often considered ‘true’ but how often are they merely an opinion or blinkered view of the author.

Another question is; “Am I expected to respond to every email?”.  If we do we signal interest and support.  If we respond to the contrary we may promote protracted debate, and if we write nothing is such silence interpreted as tacit acceptance?  These questions may be pondered over but perhaps we should be asking as to what the real purpose of the email is? Is it innocent communication or a subliminal Miranda warning that any reply may be used in evidence against you?

Tsunami’s of emails can swamp our in-boxes and we are forced to check our mails continuously be it at our desk or on our ‘smart phones’.  Then there’s the nagging ‘phone calls or text messages asking, “did you get my ‘mail?”.  Perhaps it may have been better to effect direct communication in the first place but then we’re back to hearsay and actually talking to another person and, perchance, having to consider somebody else’s opinion, albeit unwritten and not shared with one and all and in real time.

Even if people hate their daily dose of email if it’s not received they question “why?”.  “Is the server down?” and we reach out to a help-desk or, more frantically, “Am I persona non grata?” or “Have I missed something?”.  This paranoiac list goes on but, in any event, and despite overt complaints about the number of mails, a need for continuous covert checking ensues and this need can well become addictive.

Addiction & Etiquette

Humans are easily distracted and, just as easily, addicted.  Like lab-rats in a maze looking for food we too hunt for rewards.  We scan our emails just in case there is something of either interest, relevance or importance.  If we are the direct recipient it’s easy but what about the cast of “cc”s and even “bcc”s who are ‘in the loop’  The “cc”s may feel that they are also-rans and being unimportant refrain from replying.  The “bcc”s become unseen but involved bystanders who may be confused as to what they must or should do.  Who does what or is expected to do what?

The email communication effort rewards us with replies to our emails and the comfort that others recognise our efforts.  It also brings the opportunity to argue with those who would disagree and, in the absence of responses, an excuse to send interminable reminders.  No matter what the reward or lack thereof people are constantly sending, checking, and responding to mails.  A spiraling addiction ensues and the tool becomes the be-all and end-all and defeats its real purpose.

‘Responses beget responses’ and as everybody wants to have the last-word the email chains lengthen, arguments proliferate and in the email maelstrom with its ebb and flow people are kept busy.  Some people’s egos and self-importance may be bolstered while others introvert but at what cost and, more to the point, with what value.  How often do we confuse busyness with productivity and make the mistake that our business, i.e. the production of goods and services for profit, will benefit?  This in-box insanity (as it has been coined) results in chaos, confusion, and procrastination but how can this addiction be cured?

As with any drug addiction, the cure involves discipline and being able to either say ‘no’ or removing and avoiding temptation.  This can be achieved through the provision of rules that curb and control excessive behaviour, namely ‘etiquette’.  The etiquette of ‘business communication’ has developed over centuries but the use of email is still in its infancy.  We are reminded that we should be polite, curb humour, refrain from SHOUTING, spell correctly, limit exclamation marks! (!!!) and think before pressing ‘Reply All’.  But how many organisations implement real etiquette and demand acceptable behaviour?

In today’s politically correct world “freedom of speech” is often mistaken for “freedom of opinion”.  Any etiquette regarding email must differentiate between the two and this requires discipline rather than merely ‘polite’ and inoffensive speech and ensuring that we don’t waste the time and effort of others.  With ‘freedom of opinion’ many believe it is their right to be able to share their views with all and sundry, and promote debate and argument with impunity at their organisation’s expense and other people’s annoyance.

In many organisations a documented email etiquette is either sadly lacking at best or, at worst, woefully inadequate.  Individuals are left to their own devices and devises.  Some people use some sense when they communicate but others are allowed to use email with indifference and ignore the inconvenience they cause others or the havoc and toxicity they create.

Conclusions

Email is 50 years old and over the last three decades it has become an essential part of our social and business lives; it will be here to stay for at least the foreseeable future.  However as with anything new it takes time to establish conventions and norms of use.

Business communication now includes for this tool called email to augment more traditional methods but email is a mass form of communication which, by pervading through an organisation in a potentially uncontrolled manner makes for casualness.  As with the clothes we wear, ‘casual’ is not ‘business’ and casual communication may seem a good idea but it lacks those essential ingredients of good management; discipline and control.

An email etiquette brings the necessary control and discipline otherwise, and as we have all experienced from time to time, people use email to promote selfish rather than selfless opinions, and pass the buck to all and sundry.  By allowing email to become a modern-day soapbox for some we allow open debate rather than constructive criticism which while being deemed ‘healthy’ by some and promoted by others is merely a waste of precious time and effort.

The addiction of checking emails for a regular fix of receiving replies and promoting debate or involving more and more people is far from healthy.  For some, being involved in a continuous email argument or perpetuating a protracted email discussion is their raison d’etre and any thought for actually producing value is lost in the email addict’s delusion.

Communication is often cited as the major cause of failed projects but email, rather than creating the opportunity for success and mitigating the risk of failure may well be failures propagator.

Bio:

Malcolm Peart is an UK Chartered Engineer & Chartered Geologist with over thirty-five years’ international experience in multicultural environments on large multidisciplinary infrastructure projects including rail, metro, hydro, airports, tunnels, roads and bridges. Skills include project management, contract administration & procurement, and design & construction management skills as Client, Consultant, and Contractor.