July 19, 2006
E-mail is last millennium, SMS is now.
The Associated Press on E-mail is so last millennium and how young people favor IM and SMS.
"Young people see it as a good way to reach an elder — a parent, teacher or a boss — or to receive an attached file. But increasingly, the former darling of high-tech communication is losing favor to instant and text messaging, and to the chatter generated on blogs and social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace.
E-mail has become most associated with school and work. "It used to be just fun," says Danah Boyd, a doctoral candidate who studies social media at the University of California, Berkeley. "Now it's about parents and authority."
It means that many people often don't respond to e-mails unless they have to.
... Baby boomer colleagues often find instant messaging overwhelming. ... "Adults who learn to use IM later have major difficulty talking to more than two people at one time — whereas the teens who grew up on it have no problem talking to a bazillion people at once," Boyd says. "They understand how to negotiate the interruptions a lot better."
Related:
Teens turn away from e-mail - favor MySpace, IM and SMS - Statistics show that, for the first time, teen e-mail use is dropping in the -- apparently in favor of more "instant'' alternatives.
The decline of e-mail was reported in South Korea as early as 2004:
-- New Forms of Online Communication Spell End of Email Era in Korea - The perception that "email is an old and formal communication means" is rapidly spreading among them. "I use email when I send messages to elders," said a college student by the name of Park. For 22-year-old office worker Kim, "I use email only for receiving cellphone and credit card invoices."
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