I prefer email and letters more than chat messages, and you might to. We live in a wolrd of instant messages. Everything is just a quick tap away.
But over sometime I realized that chat messages seem mindless and disposable. I often reply without thinking much, sometimes even on autopilot, and completely forget about the conversation later. It’s like my brain doesn’t register those interactions deeply.
On the other hand, emails and letters feel different. There’s a certain depth and intentionality in writing them. It’s not just about sending a message. It’s about crafting a response and thinking through words.
Emails don’t expect instant reply. There are no blue ticks adding a pressure to reply as soon as you read it. We can take time to think before writing. Moreover emails have structure, tldrs and threads. It just feels human for me.
Since chat is so fast-paced, we rarely go back to read old messages. Important discussions get buried in an endless scroll.
Recently features like reacting to a message completely eliminated a reply. I once congratulated someone for their achievement and in response I got an “heart” emoji as a reaction. Not a reply like “Thanks”, “It means a lot”, etc.,
When it comes to professional chat apps, it’s the worst. People normalized using “thumbs up” as a way to say that I acknowledge your message. What’s wrong with sending a simple reply like “Got it”?
Just imagine if a person says something to you in-person, and you show your thumbs instead of replying with words.
Some apps like Teams even give suggestions for replies. These suggestions look like “Great!”, “Thanks”, etc., All you have to do is click that message and it’ll be sent. It just takes 5 seconds to type it out. I don’t know how many people are so productive that they don’t mind wasting 5 seconds to type a reply.
Call me a old guy, non-modern nerd. But I truly value a single “Happy birthday” email or letter more than 50+ WhatsApp wishes.
My friends gift me some pricey stuff like Guitar, Skateboard, etc., But (I’m sorry) however, they don’t top, a text in a little piece of paper gifted by Sai roughly 3 years back and hand-made greeting card gifted by my sister.
It’s not that little toy-telescope that I value. It’s that little piece of text that makes me grin.
Again, call me a old-guy, I don’t care. But I’d never value chat messages more than well-thought emails and letters.
I’m not saying we should abandon instant messaging (it has its place), but maybe we should slow down. Instead of firing off quick replies, what if we took a few moments to actually think? What if we treated some conversations as emails—even if they happen in chat?
At the end of the day, communication isn’t just about exchanging words. It’s about making connections that matter.
You got something more to add to this, feel free to write an email to me - hem@hemath.dev
