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E-mail (aka Evil Mail)
by Kent Lewis

Electronic mail, or email as it is known today, is perhaps one of the most influential methods of communication ever. For the past 20 years, email has seen rapid growth and acceptance. It has enabled people of virtually any economic and social status to reach out to friends, family and strangers across the globe. It has also had an immensely negative impact on face-to-face communications.

As early as 10 years ago, email was a virtually unknown technology. Professionals used one of three methods of communication: face-to-face, phone or fax. In a close office environment, coworkers would get up and walk over to the office of the person they needed to talk to. In larger companies with distributed workers, phone and fax increased efficiency.

If two coworkers had an issue, it was very difficult to avoid confrontation. They would work out their issues face-to-face or on the phone. Fax was largely used for document distribution and order processing rather than one-to-one communication. Even voicemail was not widely accepted at this time.

While email has added great convenience to the workday, and broadened communications to larger distributed parties, it has created a tendency to hide behind the time-delayed form of contact. Nowadays, many coworkers prefer to fire off emails to one another, copy groups of workers, even blind carbon copy (BCC) special individuals to keep them updated on the situation. This may make some aspects of work easier, it also create a lack of ownership.

When meeting others face-to-face or over the phone, you have to take complete responsibility for your statements, and it’s much more difficult to "tell someone off" in their face when they can respond immediately. In addition, when someone fires off an email, it’s assumed the task at hand is completed; the ball is in their court. This creates inefficiencies in that the same task may be completed nearly instantaneously over the phone or in person.

Perhaps the largest danger with email is the lack of non-verbal cues. With face-to-face, phone or teleconference, two parties can read each other’s body English and verbal tone. Sarcasm and humor are the first casualties in the email war. Without the use of "emoticons" or common abbreviations, readers are unable to discern a joke from reality.

How many times has one of your well intended emails garnered a harsh response from a misunderstanding recipient? Conversely, how many times have you personally fired off a quick-witted response to a seemingly rude or degrading email, only to find out later it was a misunderstanding? These occurrences are all too common today.

There is a solution, however. As the recipient of a negative email, count to 10, breath, and reread. Is it possible you misinterpreted? Not sure, ask a coworker or friend to read and confirm. When you have the desire to fire off a negative email, don’t. Get your ass out of your chair and walk over and talk to the sender, or get on the phone and get back to the heart of real communication.