I got a nice, chatty email from one of the leaders at an organization I used to volunteer for, inviting me out to coffee over Spring Break to catch up. I starred it so I could deal with it later, not because I didn't have time then, but because I just didn't feel like having to respond to an email thoughtfully. Most of my emails are strictly informational--things like Facebook notifications, academic and club listserv messages, advertisements--none of which I have to act upon, or even really think about. I can just passively read about what's going on, and it's not as if anyone would feel ignored or offended.
The advent of social networking allows us to see what's happening in the lives of our friends without actually having to talk to them. Email listservs and the CC function allow us to recieve information in a similar way. None of these are new technologies by any means, but I wanted to open it up to you all--does technology make you more or less social?
It depends on personality, of course, but it just really dawned on me today with my response to that email, because I realized that I tend to do that with personal emails, and they often get forgotten as my inbox fills with more and more stuff. It's counterintuitive, but when I go on Gmail, I'm not expecting to interact with people anymore via email. Chat has replaced that for me. I wonder if this trend will continue, and using email for personal notes will seem odd to everyone.
Or it could just be me, and my slow descent into allowing the internet to consume my life.
(I just got Corel Painter over the weekend so I'm trying to learn how to use it...)
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