Midterm Essay #3

Email has indisputably changed the way people interact and communicate. There are some pros and cons to weigh in this area. Email has allowed for instantaneous information in a way that neither standard mail nor the telephone have. A person can send off an email and in a few seconds, it's there. If the person is not available at the moment, the message will probably still get through. Sending mail and placing telephone calls to other countries can be expensive. The phone quality might not be the best and the mail may take several days to reach its destination. Email can be free and if I wanted to send a message to someone in China, it could be there in a few seconds. That is another point: email can be free. Google, Yahoo, and others provide free email service to anyone. This has the effect of allowing people to keep in touch over great distances.

On the downside, however, email when used in small-scale settings, such as in offices, can create artificial barriers between people. Email can also be used as a vector for internet-borne illnesses. Viruses can be spread in email attachments. If an HTML email message contains an image and the message is opened, it will alert the spammer that they have hit a functional email address and will continue to spam that address. Phishing is really more a form of social engineering, but it is primarily performed via email. Email has its pros and its cons, but I feel that as long as we are careful and use the technology properly, the benefits will far outweigh any of the risks.