E-mail vs Snail Mail

Electronic mail, prominently known as e-mail had significantly taken over the role of conventional mailing methods which is by post. Postal mails take up to a minimum duration of three days to reach its recipient where as e-mails sends out the message within split seconds after a mouse click. But yet, why do people still depend on what they label as 'snail mail' (slow delivery, just like snails)?

E-mail are accounted for their immediacy, low costs, efficacy and interactivity features. There are thousands of websites offering e-mail accounts at no cost which offer wide storage and various messaging features. Companies are also making use of e-mail to keep clients updated by sending out e-newsletters.

One of the features that are well accepted by the public is chat services. For example, Google mail (Gmail) merged the chat feature last year (2006) and set out the launch of Gmail Chat, an instant messaging (IM) client which allows users to send instant messages with one click from their e-mail account. Users are also able to see when contacts are online as well as save the chat history in the form of an e-mail message (Mills, 2006).

Illustrated above is the Gmail Chat feature made available in Gmail accounts.

With the use of instant messaging, users are not only restricted to sending and receiving of e-mails but also keep in touch with their respective families and peers all in one go. All they need is an e-mail account and they are able to stay connected despite the long distance. No charges, no waiting just convenience at fingertips!

Apart from that, websites such as Incredimail and Freemoticon offer free downloads of emotion icons (emoticons) to add colour to dull e-mails as well as giving an opportunity to users to express themselves better. Initially founded by Scott Fahlman (1982), emoticons are now widely used to show expressions and slowly innovated into expressive animation icons. Emoticons are another form of semiotics - modes of meaning (Halliday & Hasan 1985), where smileys are used to represent "happy". In addition to emoticons, IM abbreviations and shorthand such as "LOL" (laugh out loud) and "l8r" (later) are nevertheless, an often sight in casual e-mails and online conversations.

Some of the text-emoticons commonly found in e-mail.
(source: http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2007/07/28/fashion/29emoticon.graphic.ready.html)

Though with the eruption of e-mail services, snail mail still plays a vital role in effective transmission of message and of course, parcels. Postal mail are often used as a communication tool among users that cannot afford computers and internet services as well as residents of rural areas. As postal mail users are more comfortable with the conventional method of communication, it would be difficult for them to adapt to the language as well as tech-savvy features in e-mail. For any text to be recognisable and readable it must draw upon already established and shared set of meaning (Schirato & Yell 1996, p. 109). Therefore, both media tools available can be classified and altered to cater for users of different culture and affordability.

So, are you the frequent user of e-mail or supporter of snail mail?

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References:

Fahlman, SE 1982, 'Smiley Lore', viewed 9 October 2007, <http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~sef/sefSmiley.htm>

Halliday, MAK & Hasan, R 1985, Language, context and text: aspects of language in a social semiotic perspective, Deakin University Press, Victoria.

Mills, E 2006, 'Google merges Gmail with chat', CNET News.com, viewed 9 October 2007, <http://www.news.com/Google-merges-Gmail-with-chat/2100-1032_3-6035898.html>

Schirato, T & Yell, S 1996, Communication and cultural literacy: an introduction, Allen & Unwin, NSW, pp. 90-117.