The Start of Electronic Mail

I chose to study the start of e-mail because it is such an integral part of life, in present day. It has an infinite amount of possible uses, such as business, academics, and staying in touch with friends. "E-mailing" began in the 1960s and 1970s along with the invention of the Internet. As an emerging "product", the idea of e-mail was most likely sold as a quick, easy way to contact someone else with desired information. It's first early uses in newspapers seemed like there was doubt building up against the scale of mail that would circulate with the use of e-mail because it would become so easy for everyone to send out multiple e-mails and companies would not be able to handle the masses of mail that would flow through their inboxes. Its uses in scholarly articles seemed to begin in the 1980s because its early origins were a little unclear to users in its early stages. But it looks like people got a better understanding of it because one article said that e-mail is not really similar to conventional mail because it allows you to transfer text/images to a desired recipient.

I would say that e-mail's meaning has changed significantly from what it first was because it was not exactly what the public expected from it. It has become something that we are able to control and comfortably use as a society. Nowadays, when people say "e-mail", they use it as a way to communicate with another person because it has become such an easy tool to use for quick, easy communication.