… give up on email is how the headline reads. … stop being so defeatist is what I say.
Ian Bogost for The Atlantic:
Forget reading or responding; even just finding those messages amid the junk can be a chore. Email has felt overwhelming for a long time now, with all of its spam and scams and discount codes. But what used to be a vexatious burden is now a source of daily torment. Email cannot be reformed. Email cannot be defeated. Email can only be forsaken.
It’s Time to Give Up on Email (Apple News link)
I, uh, obviously, disagree. This the kind of clickbaitish stuff that I feel shapes the groupthink culture around email. Email is herpa derpa bad and unfixable and that is herpa it’s fault not derpa mine.
If your email is a mountain of crap you don’t want, it’s like that because you let it get that way. If you care to fix it, you can fix it, with a modest amount of work. Complaining about it doesn’t do anything but make you look unprofessional and unreliable (even if you aren’t).
What I don’t like about the overall sentiment is the “just use something else” conceit:
When you’re tempted to email someone in your office, fight the urge. Walk down the hall instead, or make a phone call, or send a Slack or Microsoft Teams message—or just find the answer that you need yourself.
When you do send emails, make sure that you’re expecting no reply.
It is entirely untrue that any other communication method is automatically better than email. I need to use myself as an example here, as the literal opposite is true. I try to keep up with it all the best I can, but you’re sure bet for communicating with me is email. A Twitter DM might take me a while to see, because I don’t see that as a particularly important communication channel and have never encouraged it, to name one example. Sure, I’ll definitely see a Slack message, maybe even faster, but the amount of people I share a Slack with is quite few compared to how many people overall I communicate professionally with.
What I might agree with Ian on is the idea of finding a way through. For instance:
… you can begin to sift through emails on your screen, in just the way you’d sift through letters in your mailbox
If that really truly works for you, and you’re getting what you consider 100% of the import messages bound for you, and it’s not stopping you from using outgoing email to your advantage, then fine! Leave your inbox a mess. Think of it like slimy leaves or whatever the metaphor is. But understand email is a vital part of overall life productivity.