But email is tone-deaf, and all too instant. It is ephemeral, yet irrevocable. Once you've banged out your message and sent it into the ether, you can't take it back. The recipient is presumed to have infinite time, and interest. It is the equivalent of endless Christmas letters from boring distant relatives, all year long.
Bosses get in the habit of sending down incessant email messages from on high, as if anyone cared.
A large corporation with which I am vaguely affiliated sends me more messages than I could possibly want to have, let alone answer. Email is also not secure. The magazine that I edit regularly gets highly personal missives, sent by mistake to the wrong email address thanks to a typo. With the phone, you know as soon as you have a wrong number. And mis-addressed letters either get returned or end up in the dead letter office.