E-mail. Who on earth invented this thing? I groan at the subject of this weeks challenge. I seriously hate email. Yet it is, in a way, a necessity in life. I need an e-mail address to access sites. Facebook, Twitter, WordPress, Social Networking sites, for work, connecting with friends and every other unimaginable thing. I can connect wherever. People can contact me, wherever. At times it feels like I am unable to break free. Yet I would not be without e-mail.

My iPhone is connected to e-mail. Well both my iPhones. Personal and work. So is my iPad. Laptops. Work and Personal. At least these days my e-mail inbox is relatively small. I worked out how to use settings for my sites. No more e-mail notifications that so and so posted on my pages. No more advertising and junk e-mails. I mark them as spam. Delete them. Block them.

My friends rarely use e-mail these days. We text. Phone. Instant message on social sites. Hmmm there goes my phone with a SMS received. Yet I am forever checking my e-mail. Wondering what will appear in my inbox. One never knows what goodies may arrive. I jest.

E-mail for work is a wonderful thing. So much easier than picking up the phone and being transferred to a message bank. The mail message sits in another’s in tray. Waiting for them in their own time to read and (perhaps) reply. A great way to share information. To track and put in words what is required. To send documents for comments and editing. To transfer from one device to another. At least these days, in my new job, my e-mail box is relatively quiet. I am lucky to receive 5 work e-mails a day. But what on earth is my boss doing e-mailing me on a weekend? Late at night? Her down time. I open, read, and sometimes, reply. Usually I wait til the working week. I am thankful it is quiet.

Gone are the days of receiving over 30 work e-mails a day. Wanting this and that. Complaining. Whinging. Jokes and pictures. Seriously e-mail in the work place is a nightmare. Used and abused. E-mail policies abound. Rarely adhered to. I was forever being asked to clean out my inbox. Huh. I needed them kept. Organised and sorted. Printed. Why on earth do we print an e-mail? Isn’t it supposed to cut down on paper? Not at all obviously.

I check my e-mail. Again. I lose count of the number of times a day I check it on my phone. It is a habit. Something I don’t even register I do. When there is no new e-mail, I check my settings. What? No e-mails? Something is obviously wrong. There is ALWAYS something in my inbox. I check my net coverage. It feels weird not having a new e-mail arrive. An indication of the obsession I have, like most others, of the ‘e-mail’.

Out of curiosity I check my e-mails on my phone. 5 separate e-mail addresses. This is seriously a problem. Hmmm. Work, understandable. One linked to my webpage, fair enough. My long-term, first e-mail address, linked to my social network sites. A second one. A little more professional. But in my married name. Still receiving e-mails linked to that address. My new one. In my maiden name. The primary personal e-mail I use now. It’s all so very confusing. Can I remember each of their passwords? I laugh. Not likely. If I forget I set a new one. Simple. Not a problem. I will forget that one soon enough.

I google sites. Find interesting pages. Subscribe via e-mail. Am inundated with supposedly interesting e-mails that rapidly sink to marketing and advertising of someones latest book or product. Didn’t I subscribe to get interesting articles to read? I check the unsubscribe. Click and delete the link. Another one bites the dust. Thank goodness. They were a waste of time. I have learnt to be more selective. I subscribe via e-mail only to what I do want to receive. I have learnt to check the small print. To click the box that says do NOT send me marketing e-mails. I could live my whole life on my e-mail. I don’t want to. E-mail no longer holds a fascination for me. It can be a right royal pain in the butt.

I prefer Instant Messaging, mail on my social network sites. Conversations in general with friends online. Some of course are instant. Some use an e-mail type messaging. Waiting for when I have time to read and respond. That is much more interesting and fun. This is how I now communicate with my friends. Online. Social networking sites. None of us use simple e-mail anymore.

Hmmm… Facetime. How long before we all facetime, skype or oovoo? What evolutions will happen in our lives that started with the e-mail? One can only wonder, and perhaps shudder. Hmmm wonder if I have any mail?