Email's Darkside

The technique used to move information from A to B dates back to 2400 BC in ancient Egypt. The Pharaohs printed their decrees on scrolls and sent them out to the people by courier. Certainly, that must have taken days, maybe even weeks. We have come a long way since then. Just in the last 60 years our electronic geniuses have led the evolution of information transfer to the point where we can create a decree, click the "send" button and have it appear virtually anywhere in the world in seconds. A round of applause for email, one of the greatest innovations of our time! But, hold on! This is the bright side. Just like yin and yang, email also has its dark side. Similar to a few alcoholic drinks, email can give us the courage to say what should have been left unsaid. To further exacerbate the situation, it's now in writing--etched in stone. Sometimes even for public view, depending on the distribution. And once it's in writing, it can come back to haunt us at a later date. In some instances, email supplants the vital face-to-face communication necessary for effective interpersonal relations. For example, a supervisor, afraid of confrontation, will use email to correct an employee's errant behavior when face-to-face communication would have been much more effective. These are just two examples among many of the dark side of email. In my opinion, before we click the "send" button, we should click the "delete" button and have a face-to-face conversation instead.