Consider Mail

2024-08-29

  1. Intro
  2. Improvements due to the medium of mail
    1. Time considerations
    2. Volume
    3. unintended consequences
  3. Conclusion

Intro

Since a longer time now there are many instant messaging (abbr. IM) services around that have risen to popularity exponentially. You got Matrix, Discord, Slack, etc., but none of them are able to give you space to have bigger thoughts and conversations.

In the following writing I’ll argue that not all messaging needs to be instant, or at least less often than we currently tend to use it.

First of all I want to answer the question how the over reliance of instant messaging came about. Growing up I remember whatsapp being launched, that seemed to me nearly like an utopic thing, you can just connect to everybody you know, instantly, for free. From that I assume it just hits some mental pathway of being a form of communication that was very unrealistically during all the centuries prior. And thus, when it became something normal, it’s not an addition to daily life you really want to give back or are much able to do anymore.

I don’t question it’s validity as a service but personally I’ve switched some conversations fully or partially “back” to email instead of an instant messaging solution.

Improvements due to the medium of mail

Time considerations

When using instant messaging for a decade the normal thought when somebody asks you something is to just answer on the spot.

That makes it more stressful and also less productive. For me it feels like most of the questions one gets asked would’ve been better answered if one just didn’t “had” to answer them on the spot and instead just step away from the conversation, think and then return with a good answer the following day.

That’s not an assumption you got with mail, in a mail you can ask multiple questions at once, and then just take some days to think and answer without the other one minding it.

Volume

Volume is another consideration, last time I checked before quitting discord some months ago the max amount of characters one could use per message was 4000, that’s something you can work with in most cases, but just not when you actually need to argument through an idea, from start to end.

unintended consequences

About the last 9 months I’ve had a vivid discussion with a dear friend mainly over the medium of mail. At first we didn’t think much about it but to this day it amounts of more than 200 pages (in \TeX{} with B5 paper).

That exchange of knowledge is obviously already very beneficial in itself but it was interesting to witness as it changed the contact previously just fostered on an IM platform too. Discussions were able to become more complex, useful and also better documentable for later understanding.

In total an experience that I’d wish anybody, not even mentioning the improving writing abilities over the time.

Conclusion

What I’d recommend to you now is to pick a friend you want to foster a deeper discussion with and give it a try.

Have a nice day.