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Parenting
Is Email Just for the ‘Older Generation’?
by Jenna Thompson
Updated: September 15, 2023
Originally Published: May 13, 2023
Last week, I found myself driving my 12-year-old daughter to what felt like her 500th dance class of the day, all while attempting to leave a voicemail for a friend. Multi-tasking at its finest! “Hey, it’s me. Just saw your email. Give me a call.” Quick and to the point.
Suddenly, laughter erupts from the backseat. I glance in the rearview mirror to see my daughter, her eyes glued to her phone—probably immersed in a group chat with her friends from camp or a new TikTok trend. “Ugh, Mom!” she exclaims, finally looking up at me through the mirror. “Only old people use email.”
And just like that, I was hit with a dose of reality.
I vividly recall the excitement of getting my first email account back in 1994. Fresh out of journalism school and starting my first editing job at a sports magazine, email felt revolutionary. Colleagues and a select few friends exchanged messages filled with banter, recaps of our favorite shows like Melrose Place, and plans for happy hours. It was the lifeblood of our communication. If your workplace didn’t have email, you were basically living in the dark ages.
Fast forward 21 years, and email has become a burden. My inbox is overflowing with over 10,000 unread messages—newsletters, promotions, invites to events I’ll never attend. Sifting through that digital clutter to find something important has become a frustrating chore, one I force myself to tackle daily. I click open my inbox, scroll aimlessly, and sigh before clicking close.
I’m not alone in this sentiment. A recent article by Max Robinson in Inc. forecasts the decline of email by 2025. “Business is gradually shifting away from email as the primary means of digital communication,” he notes. “There are so many alternatives now: text messages, Twitter DMs, Facebook notes, and chat apps.” He elaborates that email has turned into a black hole where responses are delayed, threads become convoluted, and spam filters are overly aggressive. “By 2025, someone will likely create a more efficient way to communicate digitally.”
Could that “someone” be our children? At ages 12 and 9, mine have already realized that for quick communication, texting, Facebook messaging, or using Snapchat is the way to go. This trend is also creeping into workplaces, with many companies opting for communication platforms like Campfire and Slack to enhance efficiency. Is this the direction we’re heading? Are we just clinging to email because it’s what we’ve always known? Now that we’ve aged, do we resist adapting to new tools?
When my kids were born, I rushed to secure them Gmail accounts based on their first and middle names—no numbers or underscores needed. How clever I thought I was at the time! Now I can’t help but wonder if they will even use them.
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In summary, as digital communication evolves, email may be losing its relevance, especially among younger generations. Our children are paving the way for new norms, leaving us to ponder whether we’ll adapt or remain stuck in our email habits.
Keyphrase: email communication
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