The Pros and Cons of E-mail

“E-mail, used by more than 7 million college students, is easier, quicker, and more spontaneous than regular mail.” (“College-to-Home E-mail”) Although electronic mail has made it possible for college students to keep in contact quickly and easily with friends and family, it can become impersonal and cause misunderstandings.

When the internet brought electronic mail, otherwise known as e-mail, into our homes, our lives from then on have forever been changed. E-mail is mail sent over the computer online through an e-mail carrier such as America Online, Hotmail, or Yahoo. Any person can create an e-mail address wherever they choose to make an account. The first step one should take to create an account is to go to a website such as: www.aol.com, www.hotmail.com, or www.yahoo.com. The next step is to check if the website requires a fee for using its e-mail service. America Online requires a fee; however, Hotmail or Yahoo do not. Just be sure to read before continuing in the registration process. The third step is to follow the websites guidelines that allow a person to set up an individual password in order to access their account. A warning to be aware of is the e-mail one writes or reads is private, however, on some servers one must be careful to read the warning messages that will tell a person if others can view what they are reading or typing. After one’s account is created, they will have an account that may look something like [e-mail]. That person can access their e-mail account at any time and write an e-mail to anyone else who is registered. It two people both have an account, however, they have different e-mail carriers, they can still send e-mail to each other.

With an e-mail account, for the first time people can communicate with each other at any time of the day without being disruptive. E-mail is “cheaper than phone calls and more certain to be received at a convenient time, it also removes the need to reply immediately to an unwelcome question.” (“College-to-Home E-mail”) A quick e-mail can keep people who are far away from another close by at the click of a button.

E-mail has brought two majors problems and one major bonus. The first problem e-mail it is impersonal.