Unit 2 Mail or e-mail

E-mail is something we cannot live without today. It has a great influence on our life. But is it more positive or negative?

Let’s start with drawbacks. The first negative fact that is often given to illustrate the disadvantages of e-mail is the loss of the ability to write. Yes, simply to hold a pen in a hand and write normally, and not just making incomprehensible lines and spots which are supposed to be letters. This point is followed by the fact that little by little we forget the handwriting of our friends and relatives, as well as the feeling that appears when we get an envelope with the postcard.

Plus, e-mail brings us lots of useless information. The name given to unsolicited e-mail messages is spam.

E-mail messaging needs the Internet connection. Well, if you didn’t pay for the Internet in time, you won’t be able to send an important letter. Or for the same reason, if your e-mail address is out of order, you can’t receive urgent information.

Guess what is the first action every employer does (automatically already!) having just entered his office in the morning without putting his coat off? Right: he checks his mail! We have such a deep affection for it that colleagues in the neighboring offices make no efforts to say “hello!” to each other during a personal meeting in the morning, but send mails with greetings.

On the other hand, those who love (and even those who hate e-mail) will give you numerous evidences of its advantages. Between them we could mention the possibility of getting information very quickly wherever we are, hence, to be aware of the latest events in the world. Moreover, e-mail gives us the possibility to express our feelings with the help of the signs we all perfectly know (J, L, etc.). Also you can make the message more expressive by including emoticons, called smileys. For example, ;-) for wink, :-) for happy, :-o for surprised, :-D for laughing, etc. Even sending flowers attached to a message (good economy for boys!) and other nice pictures is possible today. You can add also a signature file, a pre-written text file appended to the end of the message.

And above mentioned greetings by e-mail are nothing but positive if you are far from the office and must maintain contact with the directors and employers.

E-mail helps you to get “fresh” news and, consequently, to react in time. You have also the possibility to book hotels and plane tickets – which makes your travel simpler, and to buy books and other goods – which makes your life nicer.

Even a child can send e-mail messages; e-mail doesn’t require additional knowledge and skills except for the basic, the simplest ones.

E-mail, above all, is the habitual way of association and for most people it’s better to put up with all the inconveniencies, than to search for another way of sending their mail. It is great also if you communicate with a foreigner and don’t have enough skills to speak and write quickly. You can write when you want, taking as much time as you need and correct all the mistakes.