[andybak]

So - you don't use email for communication with actual people?

Do you mind me asking roughly how old you are? I would like to test my theory that email is generational and it's only the over-(insert number here) that still use it as it was originally intended.

[deergomoo]

> So - you don't use email for communication with actual people?

Nope! I may be cheating somewhat as I'm not counting work communication here, which does involve a decent amount of email, but I only access that inbox through a web browser so I can easily close the tab and be done for the day. I'm also not getting any newsletters to my work inbox.

> Do you mind me asking roughly how old you are? I would like to test my theory that email is generational and it's only the over-(insert number here) that still use it as it was originally intended

I'm 28. All my communication is via messaging apps (iMessage for family as we all have iPhones; WhatsApp for almost everyone else), so I suspect your theory is probably right!

[andybak]

Follow up question.

I find the problem with messaging services is that there's no central inbox and no decent handling of "unread".

If I get an instant message from someone that I can't (or choose not to) respond to immediately, then the chances are very high that I'll forget to respond.

But with email it stays in my inbox and I can easily set it back to "unread" for extra emphasis.

I find I'm terrible at keeping up with messaging unless it's synchronous chatting. Anything asynchronous goes out the window.

I suppose I just find everything else lacking in features that I've come to depend on in email. I just don't understand how everyone else manages.

[deergomoo]

So I think for me things typically fall into two buckets. Almost all my one-to-one communication is with family members that will just call me if I miss a message they need an answer to.

The rest (and indeed the vast majority) of my communication is via group chats, which I personally find messaging apps to handle much better than email clients. It also doesn’t really matter if you miss something, as there’s generally enough messages going back and forth that you will see something else and then remember to go back and check the thing you missed (if you even need to).

I will concede though, finding a particular instant message is a damned nightmare compared to finding an email.

[oskarc]

I am not the author of the comment, but I am 19 and only communication that I am doing through mail is related with support/feedback/employment. Also after I got a job as intern webdev (I don't even like it), we've been communicating via Slack. Also I saw that friends of mine have Discord/MS Teams/Telegram(!) as main communication service in companies. So, I am also getting a few mails per day, and most of them are invoices, notifications that I don't need to see immediately, newsletters, etc.

[conductr]

FWIW, I'm 41 now and don't use my personal email for much p2p comms. Maybe a couple times a year there's a family thread about a gathering. My close friends is all SMS. My non-close friends is just another FB connection. I don't even have most of my friends email addresses. Actually one of my fairly close friends I met about 5-6 years ago just asked me for my email to forward me something logistics related. Most of my comms on over text as banter, check-ins or logistics. Mostly logistics since we meet in person most frequently and that's where we talk.

I get a lot more email though. I think it's more correlated with complexity of your life. Meaning, I started getting more email when I owned a home vs renting, then more again when I got married, then more again when I had a dog, then more again when I had a kid, I'm sure as my kid ages into more activities the email volume will increase further. Also, my "personal business" generates a fair amount of comms. Like hiring contractors, getting bids on things, basically anything I pay for that is not a retail purchase requires some email traffic. But people like my housekeeper, pool guy, and lawn guy I can text them for anything I need to have them look at. It's better that way since they don't work at a desk.