Are we too reliant on email?

It's amazing how my job has changed over the last five years. In the good ol' days of PR, we would take pictures with 35mm cameras, wait to get the pictures developed or stalk the one hour photo guy and mail ... yes, mail... pictures to the media outlets we wanted to target along with a hard copy of a press release. The whole process sometimes took days.

Now, snap a few digital pics, hammer out a few kind words in an email, attach pics and click "send." What used to take a few days now takes just a few minutes. Don't get me started on how pitching has changed... that's a whole 'nother topic that may be discussed at a later date.

This whole easy world got me thinking... am I now too reliant on email? If so, what are the implications if, for instance, our email system went down for a couple of hours, or, god forbid, a couple of days. It could happen, you know. No email server is safe in the world where diabolical minds make it their life's work to taunt IT managers. It's like Lex Luthor with a lessor Superman.

There are days when I may not even speak to my colleagues... now, my office is near the kitchen (a very popular place 'round these parts), so that scenario is unlikely. But often, I drop a quick email or send an IM to a colleague rather than picking up the phone or (novel idea coming...) actually getting up off my behind and walking down to their office. Thank god I'm a relatively social person who enjoys human interaction, but I really wouldn'd need to call or do a face-to-faace, for the most part.

If our email was down, I would have no idea if a reporter was trying to get a hold of me or not. They so rarely call and have become even more reclusive than days gone by, that email is often the only way to reach them... so, if our system was down, I could live in an ignorant bliss, but someone, somewhere might be trying to reach me. Their blood might be boiling... they could be screaming curse words about me... sending death wishes my way... and here I would be... ignorant, happy, cleaning off my desk admiring the beautiful weather. Clueless... at least, until the system gets back up... then I would be mired down for the next few hours kissing their proverbial a@$es to make it right.

Yeah. Let's hope that day never comes because a dark one it will be. At least I have you, my blogging friends to keep me company if that dark curtain ever shall fall on little TechGirl.

In the end, the answer is "yes" - we are WAY too reliant on email, but unfortunately, we are powerless to stop it... in the words of Roland of Gilead, the world has moved on.