As a special surprise for the New Year, I learned that one of my e-mail accounts had an issue that kept me from seeing 5,582 new messages over the course of the past year. I told my husband about it, and he was amazed that I didn’t spend the next day poring through the e-mails to see if I had missed anything important.
I was, too.
Then I realized it: E-mail isn’t that important anymore.
Then I wondered what the killer communication app is right now. And, after much consideration, I have to say that there isn’t one anymore. Why? Because everyone who needs to contact you has so many options for contacting you that they will find you whether or not you read your e-mail or text message, or listen to the voicemail on your mobile phone, or read their post on your Facebook/LinkedIn wall, or their direct message to you on Twitter. They can “poke” one of your colleagues at work to deliver a message to you in person, or find your address on their GPS and come to your house if they really need you.
We’re behaving badly.