E-mail Is For Old People

Strolls writes "Although the article itself doesn't seem quite as exciting or newsworthy, this headline from Reuters amused me mightily. Reuters' summary is here and here's the original survey by Pew Internet and American Life Project." From the article: "Internet users from 12 to 17 years old say e-mail is best for talking to parents or institutions, but they are more likely to fire up IM when talking with each other, the nonprofit Pew Internet and American Life Project found. E-mail is still used by 90 percent of online teens. But the survey found greater enthusiasm for instant messaging."

To borrow another cheesy line

[mboos]

In America, only old people use e-mail.

Oh god,

[Daverd]

Here come the Korea jokes.

Is this only in Korea...

[GillBates0]

...or all over?

Riiiiight...

[ShaniaTwain]

Did you hear that 18 year olds? You're old people now. Grab a prune-juice and check your email.

"E-mail Is For Old People"

[cablepokerface]

E-mail Is For Old People

So those VIAGRA spammers knew about this long before this research.

News bulletin o' the day

[192939495969798999]

Thanks, here's another bomb: talking enthusiastically preferred to writing letters for conversation among peers located within 10 feet of each other.

Re:To borrow another cheesy line

[ohyedoggies]

In soviet Russia, email uses you!

OMG,itz s0 gnu!

[edraven]

Raise your hand if you remember when the command for Instant Messaging was 'write'.

Re:Different technologies, different purpose

[Chanc_Gorkon]

Agreed. Just look at how popular IRC was when we were in our late teens and early 20s.

I've been there

[fermion]

I think this is what doomed one of my prior relationships. I was and relatively old Emailer. She was a relatively young IMer. Incompatibility ensued.

(interesting side note is that emailer is old enough to be in the dictionary, but IMer is not. One is truly old when one's verbifications are standard.)

Re:News bulletin o' the day

[eln]

Teenagers are obssessed with IMing each other. I've seen two teenagers sitting right next to each other sending each other IMs. I just file it under "teenagers do dumb things."

And in other news...

[Rob_Bryerton]

Apples are better than oranges.

Story at 11.

Re:Different technologies, different purpose

[nuggetman]

Tel... tele... teleph.... no, sorry, doesn't ring a bell.

OH! WAIT! That's what we used to get online to use IMs before cable, that's it.

Re:Instant messaging sucks

[Anita Coney]

"it generally just feels childish and unprofessional"

I think you nailed why young people like it.

Ha :)

[roman_mir]

I just imagined /. in real time (an open chat room):

-FriSt Pst, b147ch35!

(with heavy Russian accent): -Hot grits. Get your hot grits here.

-Oh, yes, Nataly Portman always reminds me of a good big bowl of nice steaming hot gritz.

-GOOGLE ROKZ. THIER ARE THE CLOOOEST! I AM A ROKCET SCENTEIST >LWE>F PFQ!FP !

-In soviet Russia, Rocket Scientists Google YOU.

-Oh, man, I remember this one time, in the band camp....

-Yes, Microsoft is the evil empire. They are releasing this new service, a total Google rip off too...

-Microsoft is just trying to play nice, and here on /. it's always like: argh, we are the pirates, MS is the biatch! Leenux all the way!

-It's Mr. GNU/Linux to you, a55h47.

-Give man a fish and he ows you a fish. Hit him on the head with a fish and he just swims there in the fishery. For the dead fish.

-4ll y0ur b453 4r3...

-You, dumb ass, this 'all your base' crap is like 10 years old. Get with the program!

----------------------

Yup. I can see why teenagers like the IM more than email. You have to think before sending an email (well, at least a little more) because you don't have the easy way to instantly correct what you just said.

Postal Mail is for old people

[killermookie]

Communication users from 12 to 17 years old say postal mail is best for talking to parents or institutions, but they are more likely to dial up a phone when talking with each other, the nonprofit Pew Internet and American Life Project found. Postal mail is still used by 90 percent of teens. But the survey found greater enthusiasm for phone calling.

Re:Different technologies, different purpose

[ArsonSmith]

I knew it. Kids these days just wont take the time to type up an email. IM is just not as personal as actually having a letter in your InBox. It's just not the same. IM is going to be the downfall of sociaty.

Re:Different technologies, different purpose

[sh00z]

look at how popular IRC was when we were in our late teens and early 20s.

Speak for yourself, young whippersnapper! In *my* teens we had tin cans with strings, but by my early 20's, we had progressed all the way to VMSPhone [njit.edu]!

Ack!

[Mr. Underbridge]

Email is asynchronous? Someone has never worked in a modern office in a midsized-to-large enterprise. Trust me....in a corporate office, the exchange server will dutifully plug away as you and 5 other co-workers hit reply all every 3 seconds. [*sigh* -- i miss pine....]

If I ever wrote malware, it would strip the "reply all" button off of outlook. I love "reply all" the best for listserves though. Nothing like getting a bunch of "How do I subscribe to this list" messages in my inbox.

Back in my day

[UnknowingFool]

E-mail Is For Old People

Back in my day, we didn't have these fancy IM thingees. We had smoke signals. In some bad winters, we ran out of dry wood to burn, so we burned dirt! There's nothing like sending a "I pwned you!" dirt smoke signal to somebody who's fire I just rooted.

ac -- the only way

[xx_chris]

I keep in touch with everyone I know through Anonymous Coward postings on Slashdot.

Re:Different technologies, different purpose

[orasio]

Tel... tele... teleph.... no, sorry, doesn't ring a bell.

Mine does.

Re:IM is for privacy violation...

[feepness]

Beware of using IM at a company. Beware of using IM if you work for the government, or state. Beware of using IM at home.

Phew. Well, I guess that just leaves my private network of Apple IIe computers in my RV in the middle of the Nevada desert.

Re:IM = Instant Gratification

[Lumpy]

yeah important conversations like about boobies.

Man I miss those conversations... now all we talk about at work is this boring crap like Sarbanes Oxley, Profits from last quarter, cutting operation costs, etc...

nothing exciting like a great boobies discussion...

SIGH.... the costs of being an adult are high.

Re:Different technologies, different purpose

[HardCase]

That's the best sig I've seen in a long while.
--
I hate republicans. If you're a republican, please put me on your foes list so that I can do the same.

That's the lamest sig I've seen in a long while.

Today...

[Eskimore_]

Today is the day I realized I was getting old.