Snail Mail vs Email - Report Example

Running Header: Snail mail vs email Your name: Course name: Professors’ name: Date Introduction The evolution of technology has significantly changed the way we view life. Technology is also a continuous process which favours change and constant improvement in the current existing platforms. This is evident by the fact that emails have been adopted and even more preferred to traditional mails or snail mails. The name snail was adopted from its slow speed of movement from the sender to the recipient. Emails move faster, they are instantaneous in nature as they are electronic based. Notably, the use of traditional mail still exists because of the limitation of emails. Emails on the other hand face competition from future platforms which will prove more efficient as compare to the current platform. This analysis shades more light on the fundamental differences of emails and snail mails, tracking the progress of emails vs snail mails, and possibility of emails being replaced by other technologies in the future. Email vs snail mail (what you think about the article)  According to Duane, John, & Gary (1996, p.31) the evolution of computer technology has enhanced the way in which surveys are being conducted. The increasing popularity of e-mail as a means of conducting survey and communicating has set a new benchmark of how technology can directly alter the way in which communication needs to be. In essence, the article author has addressed fundamental difference between snail mail and e-mail. Snail mail is the traditional mail where a letter or a parcel was transmitted via the normal postal carriage system while e-mail is transmitted electronically to a distant place within the shortest time, normally instantaneously. Duane, John, & Gary (1996, p.31) notes that surveys done with email received high response rates and data quality, this helped in speeding up the process of data collection in survey. The authors did an experiment to compare the two means of data collection and found a significant difference among the two fundamentally in terms of the speed of information flow and the quality of the research process. This can be attributed to the technological advancement and the growing popularity of using email as a means of information transfer. In essence, there is a growing use of personal computing devices among many homes, most people prefer to access internet services at their homes and also have an opportunity to respond to mails sent immediately. The authors clearly pointed out the growing popularity of email as a better means of communication as compared to the traditional mail services. In my opinion, I concur with the authors of the article, my reason being that with evolution of computing technology following the Moore’s law, where the computer chips increase in speed/computing ability while decreasing in size. This law has stood the test of time; there is a growing demand for personal/ PCs and other small computing devices such as PDAs. Email use has thus grown tremendously over the past two decades. The authors were therefore right in clearly pointing out the significant difference between the two communication options presented. Track the progress of email vs mail and how email changing people life The traditional mail service usage has significantly dropped in a number of usage ways. Organizations generally do not communicate via snail mail but rather opt for internal (intranet mail) using outlook because of the speed of response. According to Uden (2012) the usage of email has changed people’s life in many ways; firstly communicating with people has been made easier and even instantaneous. Email has therefore enhanced the efficiency of workplace in the modern world, more so emails have a number of features that favour communication, they allow disseminating of information to a wide range of recipients, this was not possible with the traditional mail system, and it also allows sending secured information to people. It also makes it possible to attach a number of documents to the sender, these documents can also include Photos (in JPEG, PNG, and Bitman among others), music files such as MP3 among others, some small video files in MP4 format and others can be transmitted through the current email system. The email communicated to a number of people can be replied on forming email trail, this is essential because it creates reference point where a new user can check on the progress of the issue covered in the mail trail. This is common in organizations. Emails are also cheap; in fact emails are free as long as the user has internet connection. Another notable issue is the fact that an organization can create a shared email platform where company’s processes such as procurements and sales can be monitored by every participant in the company. According to Uden (2012) the evolution of computers has also made it possible for the integration of email platforms into small devices such as PDAs and phones among other internet enabled devices. This has also made the transmission of mails via email platform more common and effective as compared to the traditional mails. As an example, a user using a mobile phone can get emails without necessarily being attached to a PC; this makes email platform the most favoured means of communication. Considering that emails to do use paper, this platform is essentially environment friendly. More so, emails have been the pace setters in the technology world, they have basically led to the development of millions of other platforms which depend on emails. Notably, the enhancement of websites developments always depend on mails to receive messages send to the website and also use the mail addresses from the visitors to communicate back useful information. It is undeniable that emails have set the pace in the business world and also enhance evolution in the business industry. Despite the many advantages of emails, traditional mails are still being used because of their unique features which cannot be replaced by emails. Some of the examples of these include sending of a physical item such as a Visa card, watch and physical presents such as flowers, documents that need to be hand signed among others. Mores so, most banking systems use the postal services to send their clients monthly statements and their banking details that need to be brought to their attention. Other notable advantages of the traditional mails as compared to emails is that they do not carry viruses the way mails carry, they also do not have mail spam or unwanted mails as compared to emails. More so, it is more difficult to hack and access traditional mails, this is common in emails and even hacking an email can lead to financial loss because online payment solutions primarily use emails to confirm ownership of the account. This is not the case with traditional mails, if they are hacked or accessed illegally; it is rare to report financial losses as a result of the hacking. Future of email in particular will email be replace by new technology in the same way that snail mail has been replace by email? Based on what has happened in the past, it is hard to ignore the fact that other mail options may develop and replace the existing mail system that we currently have. This fact is supported even by the current industry evolution. For instance, the development of computing platforms, such as Java, PHP, MySQL, and Joomla among others have pioneered creativity in the mobile industry with the development of even better platforms which allow instantaneous live communication. Some examples include the social networking platform such as facebook, they have an option which allows chatting and even sending of files like photos and audio/video attachments. The use of these alternative technologies has reduced the usage of emails as most users can easily access the progress of their friends and family. Emails can therefore be replaced by new and more innovative channels of communication the way in which emails replaced the traditional mails. Technology is not stagnant; it is a continuous process of improving the way in which work is done. This includes mail communication among others (Kurtz, 2012, p.4). SMS, Twitter, Facebook and Skype among other similar technologies have reduced usage of emails in sending messages that require shorter responses, however these technologies do not have the potential to replace emails, and they can only reduce their usage. This is mainly because emails are more official and command more attention compared to these social mechanisms. It is evident that these new technologies have fostered business growth; in marketing, social networking is the way to go. In organizations, recruitment process normally a request for interview can be done through Skype and even SMS. Social networking sites have enhanced our lives, they keep us connected to people with love and also keep us updated on other happenings in different places, and for sure life is no longer the same as a decade ago when social networking was limited. Technology will continue to improve our lives, with the advent of the software industry, biomedicine is undergoing revolution, genetic medicine is about to change our lives and even prolonging them. All these are potential benefits of technology. Conclusion As noted in this work, emails are the most preferred means of information transfer because of their speed, affordability and effectiveness. Emails allow transmission of message and getting a response immediately. Emails are therefore the most preferred means of communication because of its enhanced platform. Emails have significantly changed the modern life and communication as a whole; it has basically set the pace for evolution of other new platforms which depend on mails. While the core function of emails was to send mails faster, other value added services have been integrated into emails. One can send video files, audio files, files of almost all formats. This has been a major contribution especially to the business world. All businesses in the world depend on emails for communication purposes. Despite the evolution of emails, the traditional mails still have a place in the modern world; this is mainly because of the fact that there are physical things which cannot be sent via email platform, such things include bank credit cards and physical gifts among others. Notably, new technologies have the potential to replace the current email platforms, this is evidenced by the new platforms especially the social network platform. References Duane, B., John, E., & Gary, V. (1996). Tracking the Progress of E-mail Vs.Snail-Mail. Marketing Research, 8(2) :ProQuest, pg. 30-35  Kurtz, S. (2012). Snail mail or e-mail: How will your next invitation be sent? Jewish journal 2(1). P.1-4. Uden, L.(2012). Web Engineering and Technology. International Journal of Web Engineering and Technology 7(4). P. 1476-1289 Read More