Over the course of history, modern methods of communication have continuously forced older forms of communication out of popular use and into something of the past. Telegraphs and carrier pigeons were both in use less than a century ago, but now are things of the past to be read about in a history textbook. Is it time for email to join them? 

Email has been a staple of modern communication since before the turn of the century, with over four billion users according to statista, and is the main method of communication for most jobs, but the rapid development of social media, online management systems, and smart phones seems to quickly be reducing the relevancy of email. The rise of social media and texting in the 21st century has led to a reduction in the use of email, according to Small Business Trends, when it comes to getting in contact with a friend, but the real threat to the use of email are online management systems. 

 For now, email’s ability to be a hub of information for people is keeping it relevant in modern society. The problem is the use of online management systems like schoology are making email into the middle man when it comes to information. Emails from the online management systems along with spam from random websites and companies are clogging up people’s inboxes and making going through their email much more tedious than it used to be. 

This hassle can be easily gotten rid of if schools and companies didn’t rely on emails being their primary source of communication and instead switched to using mainly online management systems. This opinion is held up by some bothell students as well with Student Reece Williams(‘22), when asked about a potential move from using school emails to the online management system canvas, saying, “I would love if we moved to Canvas, I use Canvas for running start and it’s way easier to keep track of assignments and communicate directly to my teachers.” From a teachers perspective however eliminating school emails in favor of an online management system may be a little more troublesome.

Mrs. Crowe, one of the P.E. teachers at Bothell High School, said, “I, personally, would feel pretty overwhelmed if there was a decision to eliminate school emails since I rely so heavily on them. I have used the schoology messaging system, and could make it work if the district decided to rely solely on it, but it would be a big adjustment.” Right now, email is still an important part of modern communication, but as online management systems continue to develop and become a normal part of society it seems as if email could very soon become a thing of the past.