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Polite social reciprocity has changed. Many contacts are ignored outright (hanging up on telemarketers, not acknowledging job applications, not returning voicem
by ctdonath 14y ago
Polite social reciprocity has changed. Many contacts are ignored outright (hanging up on telemarketers, not acknowledging job applications, not returning voicemails, etc.). Delayed responses are the norm with emails, texting and voicemails. Greetings and closings are rare unto suspicious in emails. Spam filters black/white-list what gets through. Long replies are rare. ...and little of these are ever considered "rude", as we all understand the staggering volume of messaging faced and managed, if with occasional notable failures.
Today, E.B.White would just set up an auto-reply and get on with his next book.
ETA: Right, he wouldn't as indicated. Though something would give, and some technology would be leveraged, making replies take much less than hand-typed-on-paper.
- gruseom 14y agoToday, E.B.White would just set up an auto-reply I disagree. In fact, White himself disagrees in the letter. He could have set up an auto-reply by letting his publisher handle his mail, but found that "evasive and unsatisfying".
- pervycreeper 14y agoOne can only hope that there will be some kind of convergence of email, SMS, status updates, voicemail, IM, twitter, DMs, etc., etc., etc. with some kind of automated prioritization/ filtering. When it takes hours to take care of your inbox in the morning, there is a systemic problem. Hopefully some room will be left for good manners and proper English.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]