Communications in 2005

Snail mail is effectively dead as a means of interpersonal communication, having been almost entirely replaced by e-mail. Ironically, the death of physical mail seems to have revitalized the old art of communication by written letter.

Instant message and blogging are on the rise, but both seem to serve a different purpose than e-mail does. The also suffer their own spam related issues, but to lesser extent. Their relative immunity to spam is at least partly due to them being based on closed standards more subject to regulation.

The majority of the American populace still has land-based phone lines. The youth however get cell phones in their teens, and don't understand why they'd ever want a phone line tied to their ever-shifting residences. Older consumers also have cell phones, and often wonder why they continue to pay the phone company for a physical connection.

Instant messaging and phone communications serve roughly the same purpose. They are used when instantaneous communication is desired. For most users, instant messaging has the same limitations as placing a phone call to a land-line. If a user doesn't happen to be at their computer, they must resort to leaving a message.

How these different communication mediums evolve in the next years depend on social changes as much as technology advancements. Video phone technology has existed for years, but has never made its way outside of steamy chat rooms due to lack of market demand.

Specific possibilities include a centralization of all immediate communication mediums. Instant messaging may become a single gateway to initiate a chat session or a traditional phone call. Hopefully someone will figure out how to stop spam e-mail on a systematic level.

Back to Articles