EOTO Project #1

The Importance of the First Email:

    The First email was invented in 1971 by a computer programmer named Ray Tomlinson. Tomlinson was working for the firm, Bolt, Beranek, and Newman and was barely even trying to invent the email because he did not think it would turn out to be such a big deal. Tomlinson was looking for a way for people and computers to interact better in addition to sending files between computers rather than just between different users on the same computers. I would say Tomlinson was successful. He was also credited with sending the first email which was really underwhelming. His first email was just a test with a combination of random letters on the keyboard. Tomlinson thought working on this project was "A neat thing to do" and did not really grasp the importance of what he was really doing. He never would have thought that on that day he would make something so impactful for the entire world.

    Looking at the impact of the email it obviously has changed communication forever. Even though it was invented in 1971 using email was not mainstream until the 1990's. As a college student email is a part of my day to day to life and it would be completely different without it. Same thing with the business world. Many occupations require you to check your email more than twice a day. Also, it is very common to find that people have several different email accounts. I know that I have three different ones for three different purposes. Many have professional, personal, and then maybe a spam email account. People have gotten very comfortable using email. Everyone is very familiar with the type of language and professionalism that is usually expected on email. 

    It is clear to see that email has had a very large impact on todays society but it is difficult to grasp how large that impact really is. The number of emails sent every second exceeds 3.13 million. There are 7.9 billion email accounts world wide and active email accounts exceed 5.6 billion. Gmail is the popular email provider with, 1.8 billion active users. The average user has at least 1.86 email accounts. It is clear that email has had a tremendous impact on our culture and society. It is difficult for people to think of world where they are not frequently sending and receiving emails. Before this, it was just phone calls. Now in the present day we also have text messages which are a lot more casual than emails. Thinking about it, it would be extremely difficult to communicate in the modern world without email. I guess it would have to consist of constant calls and voicemail. It would always be hard to learn information and be in the know with what is happening in the world. Email has been so beneficial in the way that we learn and communicate. Without it students, business owners, and many more would have to find another to communicate their daily needs.