The tyranny of e-mail

A woman complains about how communication between people has become so quick and intrusive: “There is no standard nowadays of elegant letter writing, as there used to be in our time. It is a sort of go as you please development, and the result is atrocious.” What technology is she complaining about? Postcards. Yes, that revolutionary advance at the turn of the 20th century.
In this review of a new book by John Freeman, "The Tyranny of Email", Ben Yagoda, in The New York Times, reminds us how every generation gets its share of technology worth complaining about; but that in all the sophisticated kvetching about the brutalizing effects of email, we shouldn't forget that it has also been a "cleansing agent for prose, inhibiting dull, abstract wordiness."

Books about social problems are often strong in describing the problem but fairly lame when it comes to suggesting solutions. The opposite is true of “The Tyranny of E-Mail.”While the diagnosis feels overblown, the prescription generally makes excellent sense. Among other things, Freeman advises us to limit how many e-mail messages we send and how often we check our in-box, to keep a written to-do list, to be careful reading and composing e-mail, and not to “debate complex or sensitive matters by e-mail.” A big 10-4 on that one.
Ultimately, e-mail is a social, cultural and literary phenomenon that demands a more nuanced approach than Freeman’s high dudgeon provides. Characteristically, he gives lip service to the medium’s convenience but says nothing about its capacity for creativity and expression. “Each correspondent we have, and each interaction with that correspondent, demands a slightly different register,” he correctly writes, and then complains that the requirement is “exhausting.” But in truth it has meant good things for the cause of writing. Every day, I get a half-dozen or more fine e-mail messages: short, (often) witty, (usually) pointed, (sometimes) thoughtful and always written in that correspondent’s particular register.