Forget inbox zero. For most, that's not practical these days. Unfortunately, today, much of what gets to email is junk, other, clutter, and/or spam. With hundreds or thousands of emails piling in, they're also, frankly difficult to keep track of. Also, more and more email providers are starting to charge you for email once your accounts begin to bloat with all this junk you will be asked to fork over a monthly fee. What's more, email is on the road to being considered personally identified information. That means email directories or lists may be a problem because they are, or could be, violating general protection data regulations.
So what is the future of communication?
Online communities
Personal communication
It's not texting. By design, texting often doesn't work well across platforms. It's also not the best format for organizing, sharing, planning and more. The other issue is that you must have the phone number of the others you are communicating with. Another personally identifiable information issue. While there are some text platforms people can join with an invite code, these still are not the most popular.
While platforms can and will change, love it or hate it, for personal life, right now, Facebook is winning. Groups partnered with messaging beats the alternative. Phone, email, or other sharing is not required. Instead just tell someone to connect with you in the group.
Professional communication
For professional communication you've got Facebook Workplace, Slack, and Teams. No more need to share your email or phone. Instead you just share with others how to link up with you in the appropriate platform.
Once you're in platform, you don't have to worry about the email related issues. Most have the ability to phone or video conference. What's best is that the junk/spam is generally handled well by moderators and community members.
The Death of Email
It is becoming harder and harder to track, keep up with, sort, and stay on top of the few priority emails that come through. Email is evolving toward the point of extinction and that's okay. Change is hard, but the time has come for us all to evolve towards the newer and more effective online community method of communication.
cross posted at The Innovative Educator
Lisa Nielsen (@InnovativeEdu) has worked as a public-school educator and administrator since 1997. She is a prolific writer best known for her award-winning blog, The Innovative Educator. Nielsen is the author of several booksand her writing has been featured in media outlets such as The New York Times,The Wall Street Journal, Tech&Learning, and T.H.E. Journal.
