Email is dead? Thanks for the laugh.
I was reading this article, written by Rachel Thompson of Mashable. And man…I owe her a debt of gratitude. I have been searching for a topic to write about and thanks to Rachel’s ridiculous article, I couldn’t begin typing fast enough.
When I started my career, paying your dues was a concept that was not a choice. But arguably, it was also something worth doing as it allowed for young professionals to learn from those who have traveled down the road on which they were first riding. Then, suddenly, when Millennials joined the workforce, they seemingly were able to bypass paying their dues- almost like it was a pass to jump ahead in one’s career. Rachel’s article proves how detrimental this can be.
I, as I typically do, agree with Professor Mark Ritson, in that, I refuse to consider Millennials as one, single, demographic group. To do so is to ignore psychographics completely, as well as overall differentiations within this group. Thompson seems to believe that not only are all Millennials the same but that they also, all agree with her.
Let’s pick Thompson’s article apart and highlight some of what is wrong with it.
“There are two types of people in this world. Those who live at inbox zero, who frantically read, remove, and reply to emails the very instant they arrive. And, then there’s the rest of us: Those who live with thousands of unopened emails without a care in the world. I am one such individual — a millennial who checks my personal email once or twice a week, and my work email as few times as I can get away with.”
I feel I don’t need to go any further than her first sentence to prove my point (although I will). Two types of people? Even if this were true, Thompson cites no sources or studies when making this assertion and even as a blog or opinion piece, proving her case would be of value. Without validating our assertions, we can all write articles and state whatever we want! I read my inbox frantically. I also have 15,688 messages and am often driving and can’t reply the instant they arrive. You see, many professionals have to travel from place to place or receive emails at a pace much greater than they can keep up with to reply. Just because you live in a world where email doesn’t play a vital role in your career doesn’t mean your experience is the same as the rest of ours.
“To me, sending an email is the 2018 equivalent to sending snail mail. It’s insufferably slow, you can’t see if the recipient is online, and it’s hard to scroll back through previous messages.”
I have heard email be criticized in a variety of ways…but to state it is equivalent to “snail mail” or that it is “insufferably slow” is just confusing to me. First of all, it is quite literally not the same as sending snail mail…it isn’t even close. I don’t follow this logic, at all! And what is “slow” about it? My emails send pretty quickly and I don’t see any issues with receiving them. Do you mean receiving responses is too slow? If so, allow me to ask…what makes you so important that I, as a recipient, should drop what I’m doing and respond immediately? Maybe I might set an alert when my boss writes to me…but does every person really need responses that quickly? And why do you need to know if a recipient is online? Really…why? What possible reason is there for this? Finally, scrolling back through previous messages is easy if you actually take the time to create filters and flags. Imagine that…actually working on being efficient, instead of running at full speed, constantly while making mistakes.
“Harriet Butterfield, PR and social client manager at social agency The Honey Partnership, says that email doesn’t marry well with the millennial startup mentality because it’s “slow and passive.”
I don’t know Harriet Butterfield but given her title and where she works, I am not surprised by her misguided response. What is a social agency? What a ridiculous concept. Do they help companies socialize? Professor Ritson would tell you that social media is intended for people to interact with people…not companies. And the statistics prove this to be true (unless you’re fooled by useless terms such as “awareness,” “views” or “reach”). What’s more, to claim that “email doesn’t marry well with the millennial startup mentality” only promotes the stereotypes surrounding this demographic group (somehow) being globally the same. Once again, I don’t understand the assertion that email is slow but can absolutely confirm that email is the furthest thing from being passive. Email is quite active, allowing others to engage in conversations that are easy to archive and refer back to, over time. And just to make one last point here, if Butterfield would like to compare the quality of responses (based on accuracy and detail) to her preferred forms of media, I’m quite certain I would win that bet.
“I think millennials, especially those that work in agencies like mine or in a startup environment, have an entrepreneurial outlook on life,” says Butterfield. “And, with that comes the classic ‘move fast and break everything’ attitude that Mark Zuckerberg coined, and ultimately, a get-shit-done and get-it-done-quickly way of working.”
“Entrepreneurial outlook on life?” I would love for Thompson to expand upon this bizarre claim. My perspective on this is that people like Thompson appear to be eager to want the world handed to them and almost just as often, feel entitled to it. No successful entrepreneur achieves tremendous success without more experienced folks around them, Zuckerberg included. And the Lean approach or ‘move fast and break everything’ attitude has led to thousands of poorly designed and non-scalable products being used by companies. And these products are rarely backed by true, companies…real companies that can support their clients, effectively. For example, how many survey tools exist that have no discernable differences between them?
“This mentality has filtered its way into Butterfield’s personal life, too. “For personal use, email is completely redundant.” She says her personal inbox is “chock-a-block with spam” save for the odd three-year-old email from her parents, who now know to just catch her on WhatsApp.”
What about messaging in Facebook or some other social platform? Does Butterfield use these, instead? If so, does she appreciate that technology evolves? Is she claiming that because the message isn’t in Outlook or Gmail, that it isn’t email? Email stands for “electronic mail.” No matter the client or fancy name you give it…it is still email.
Thompson then quotes Aleksei Antonov, CFO of SONM, which is a highly technical company. And it is, therefore, unsurprising that he would state “High-tech companies, especially startups, ditch emails in favour of modern means of communication like messengers and even task managers like Jira and Asana.” But this response pertains to project management and managing tasks. That is simply an unfair and inaccurate comparison — apples and oranges. When has anyone claimed email is a project management tool?
Antonov continued by stating, “Emails do not let you to set a task properly and to see all your tasks at a glance.” That’s true. And my lawnmower can’t julienne fries. What’s his point? Email was never intended to do this and therefore, this too is an unfair and inaccurate comparison. This argument doesn’t prove email is obsolete…Antonov is simply stating that he needs a separate set of tools for a completely different purpose.
Thompson quotes Jordan Anthony Swain, an artist and entrepreneur…a prime example of your typical team member at a New York office…this one made me laugh. Swain also stated that “simplicity is key to millennials, and anything that feels like a job added onto our already jam-packed schedules will be left behind.” These are the same folks riding around on rollerskates in offices, sitting on bean bags and playing ping pong, right? “Jam-packed schedules?” If Thompson is going to stereotype an entire generation of professionals and make the claim that their schedules are “jam-packed…” shouldn’t she also take into account the time being invested into the semi-finals of their office’s ping-pong tournament?
I can’t think of many tools more simple-to-use than email. It is baffling that email would be considered more burdensome on someone’s day than using Slack which, literally, requires the same level of effort- E.g. Open a browser, go to a site, login, access a message, view and download it. Larger files? Yes, that remains an issue and strong technology shifts are needed to make including larger files in email more streamlined. I will concede to this one point.
As an aside, Pushfor, Slack, and similar technologies should be tested to see how they impact productivity. Although folks like Thompson like to tout how ‘innovative’ this 30-year old technology (called IRC) is, by employing it in the workplace may be a distraction…which is potentially why email is preferred. Email is there when I go to it, waiting for me. People don’t need an answer ‘now’ to questions that are of less relevance to what I am currently working on at the moment.
Thompson then cites the Adobe Email Consumer Survey, which she clearly didn’t read. She found the one stat that would support her case while ignoring the fact that, in this survey, it also states-
- Most respondents expect their email use (both personal and work) to remain the same over the next two years
- Respondents most likely feel indifference when checking their work or personal email. Additionally, half get to “inbox-zero” which is most likely to make them feel relieved.
- Respondents mentioned that both email and face-to-face conversations are preferred, however over half mentioned that email is their company’s primary communication tool.
- 61% of respondents would like to be contacted by brands through email. However, their stated preference is for marketing emails that are less about promotions and more about providing information.
Need I continue? It’s all in the report.
Thompson then concedes “Despite this, Adobe’s research also found that despite the “hype around newer forms of communication like Slack and Snapchat,” young consumers don’t seem to be migrating away from email. “ Surprisingly, it turns out email is just as sticky with them as it is with consumers overall,” reads the Adobe report.”
Maybe it’s me but didn’t she just contradict her entire argument?
“…in a world where time=money, cutting down on time spent emailing isn’t a bad idea.”
Seriously…how would you know? And as the majority of those surveyed in the study Thompson chose to cite disagree with her, what exactly is the point of this entire article?
Get off your high horse and realize that you need to pay your dues so you can learn how to dig deeper and process concepts and data more critically. It is only through experience that a person can achieve such a goal. Thompson has written for a lot of publications. My suggestion? Put your computer away, roll up your sleeves, and live in this world for a few years before you make such baseless assertions.
-Brian Riback
Gen X-er
