Writing E Mail Letters example essay topic

"E-mail doesn't just collapse distance, it demolishes all boundaries" (Leonard 233). The author of "We " ve Got Mail-Always" explains that e-mail can be "either a blessing or a curse" (Leonard 233). Does e-mail have positive or negative impact on personal and public discourse? Many people may say that it affects discourse negatively. Most people, however, agree that e-mail is a very common, cheap and quick form of communication which enables them to fulfill their social need of interaction. People at different age and different education or social level have their own e-mail accounts and they communicate with others electronically way very often.

E-mail has positive impact on personal and public discourse. E-mail has positive influence on public and private discourse because many people are more open and honest while writing e-mail than during face-to-face conversation. Andrew Leonard learned that "e-mail also flattens hierarchies within the bound of an office. It is far easier, Shreve notes, to make suggestion to your superiors and colleagues via e-mail than it is to do so in a pressure-filled meeting room" (qt d. in Leonard 231). Moreover, Barry Diller, who is CEO of US Networks, says: "I'm much more intimate and personal in e-mail than I am anywhere else" (qt d. in Schwartz 237). E-mail is a great tool in expressing oneself better during a discussion.

Shreve adds, "Any time you have something to say, e-mail can make it easier" (qt d. in Leonard 231). There are people who are shy or afraid to express what they think in open conversation. However, while writing e-mail, they are more open and can express themselves more truly. Tony Schwartz, in "Going Postal", says that "e-mail promotes a certain openness and intimacy not encouraged by other forms of communication" (237). E-mail also positively affects public and private discourse in that it allows people to control the way they express themselves. While writing an e-mail, people have the possibility to go through the message carefully before they send it.

Barry Diller points out: "With e-mail the process is primary written. I have to focus more on what I'm going to say, compose sentences, make myself understood, reflect before I react" (qt d. in Schwartz 237). With e-mail, people can avoid impulsive reaction to control someone's words and replay in a calm way. E-mail gives an opportunity to convey more controlled and thought-out messages in public as well in private discourse. Barry Diller adds: "I read what I've written and edit myself" (qt d. in Schwartz 237). Before sending an e-mail, a person can always review and rewrite it, thus positively changing personal and public discourse.

Furthermore, e-mail has positive impact on public discourse in that people can develop themselves by communicating with other people. Newsgroups, another function of the internet, is able create a community. People gathering in front of their computer and writing messages about a particular subject exchange their knowledge and experience. "If you have something to say about that topic, you e-mail your comment to a central computer, which then forwards it to everyone else on the list. If they have something to add, they can either respond to you privately or send another message back to the central computer" (Parsons 250). Some people want to share what they know; others want to learn about something or both just want to express their feelings and thoughts.

These communities are just like others. Parsons says, "We grieved for a friend we'd lost and knew that our little community had been changed forever" (253). E-mail is also a very common form of communication among coworkers. Leonard mentions "For decades, programmers have used e-mail to collaborate on projects.

With increasing frequency, this collaboration is accruing across company lines, and often without even the spur of commercial incentives". (233). Such collaboration improves communication between coworkers even if they are far away from each other. E-mail makes users learn from one another, and it improves team work greatly. On the other hand, some people might say that e-mail affects human discourse negatively because e-mail letters are full of mistakes, bad grammar, and have "a limited emotional bandwidth" (Schwartz 237). Does e-mail promote such carelessness?

It is up to every individual to compose correct sentences and choose appropriate words for a particular message. Negligent writing results rather from our hurried type of life and changing social values than e-mail itself. E-mail messages can be full of emotions and good literacy like regular letters. It is up to any writer to give the best of his or her writing abilities to the receiver. E-mail has good impact on personal and public discourse because many individuals can communicate more freely and openly. For many people, giving honest opinions to others is easier via e-mail than through other ways.

People who are shy can express themselves better while writing e-mail letters. Moreover, e-mail allows people to choose words more carefully and express themselves better. It allows people to create communities, and discuss many subjects that interest them. E-mail also helps people to communicate in a workplace even if coworkers are thousands of miles away from each other. Anyone should remember that it's up to him or her to put the best of one's abilities into every e-mail and not to offend the receiver, but rather convey the intended message.

Bibliography

Leonard, Andrew. "We " ve Got Mail-Always". Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. 8th ed. Eds. Laurence Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen. New York: Longman, 2003.
229-33. Parsons, Russ. "A Shared Sadness". 8th ed. Eds. New York: Longman, 2003.
249-53. Schwartz, Tony. "Going Postal". 8th ed. Eds. New York: Longman, 2003.