Brits addicted to email
Will Head writes…
It looks like half of the country is chained to their keyboards if the results of a new poll are true. According to those quizzed by ICM, 50 percent of 25 to 34 years olds said they would not be able to carry on without email. It’s not clear if this was actually tried on any of the participants to see what happened.
The Welsh seem least afflicted, with only 34 percent claiming that access to email was essential for them. Head on over to the South East, however, and that figure jumps to 43 percent.
And it’s not the youngsters driving up the statistics – according to the results more people in the 35 to 44 age bracket (44 percent) considered email vital than those in their teenage years (41 percent).
The survey was commissioned by Nasster – a firm that coincidentally provides mobile access email. Of course, one of the reasons younger people are less bothered about email could the number of other ways they have to communicate at their disposal – through social networking sites, SMS, instant messaging and the like. In ten years time will they still be poking each other on Facebook, or will they be more likely to sit down and compose an email instead?
Email has become so pervasive that asking people if they could survive without it would be a bit like asking them if they could go on without being able to post letters to people or talk on the phone. It’s not that you couldn’t, it’s just more convenient and quicker. Switch off email and the world won’t end, we’ll just have to find other ways to communicate instead.
