Technology, specifically email, is a wonderful invention in and of itself, but I m not so sure it makes life any easier. Technology makes systems more efficient, it does not necessarily make people more efficient. Tempers flare and romances spark and thus, the virtual drama. Email is its own dimension of communication, outside the domains of temperence and sensibility within other social behaviors. It can be difficult for the reader to interpret, without the inflections of the spoken word, which either causes gross misunderstandings or, in better spirits, highly creative interpretations.
Email can be a deflated form of expression, or it can bore down deep in the psyche.
What is most disappointing, however, is that the honesty and candor made possible behind a screen rarely transpose into real time encounters. But these fingertip vignettes into the life of another are just as real, if a bit distanced, as the rest of human experience. I like knowing someone by their written word, as well what they say. A few words can go a long way, extending a tentacle of thought, an ethereal emotion, a wrinkle in time. Feeling the pull of these immaterial connections, the ones that allow us to be in more than one place at a time, I embraced the next logical step in technology.