Chris Hannah
My little piece of the internet

Currently Listening

Slow Conversations

Numeric Citizen, recently wrote about slow but delightful conversations via email:

One advantage of email is that it allows for more thoughtful and deliberate communication. Unlike instant messaging or phone calls, where responses are often quick and on the spot, email will enable individuals to take their time to compose well-thought-out messages. Email communication allows for more thoughtful and well-considered responses thanks to its asynchronous nature. Unlike synchronous forms of communication such as phone calls or instant messaging, where there is an expectation of immediate responses, email allows individuals to carefully craft their messages and review and revise them before sending them. This contributes to clearer and more accurate communication, as people can take their time to gather information and reflect on their thoughts before replying.

I've always thought of email in its purest form being akin to writing a letter. There's an expectation that comes with it, that you won't necessarily receive a reply very quickly after writing to someone. And this changes the dynamic and the attitude towards how emails (and letters) are written.

However, as much as I enjoy the process of writing and reading emails. My realistic experience of email is that my inbox is usually a mess. Various order confirmations, random deals or sales from annoying brands/stores, newsletters that I've forgotten to unsubscribe from, and random ones like "you've just signed in via a new device" or "we've updated our terms and conditions".

I've been thinking of a solution, and the only thing I've come up with is to have a completely separate email address for communicating with people. And to try as hard as possible to keep spam away, newsletters, account updates, etc.

So, for now, I've created a new email address just for that purpose, chris@chrishannah.me. At some point, I'll add this a "reply via email" button to my posts, but for now, it can sit here.

One thing I would like to say about that email address is that I will be very stringent on spam emails. It's for conversations between people only. Let's see how it goes.