I believe that people will infer a tone in email and remember that much longer than the content contained in the message. I know I that I’ve read emails from friends and family and have wondered “are they upset with me” or “what’s going on with them?” Is it possible to reflect emotions in email?
Email lacks the vocal inflections, the gestures, the facial appearance that we expect in our interpersonal communications. Emojis, exclamation points, etc. can only do so much to convey your emotion to your reader.
We spend so much time (me included) texting and emailing each other that we are losing the very intimacy of communication we need. To mitigate the challenges (and to avoid bad feelings) here are some suggestions:
- Read, re-read, and read it again before pressing send.
- If you’re angry, write out that email and wait a while. Read it again. Chances are you’ll delete it.
- Pay attention to your grammar and punctuation.
- Be positive and upbeat! Start off with a compliment.
- And sometimes, it’s just easier to pick up the phone!
2018 Update
This seems to be a continuing issue with some people. I’ve had calls and messages since this original post appeared from people who are so angry about an email they received from someone. I truly believe it’s because we are so rushed, we don’t take the time to re-read a message before hitting that ‘Send’ button.
Photo #77498736 from Dollar Photo Club.
2 thoughts on “Emotions in Email”
When you say “people,” what did you mean by that? :0)
Spot on! Pick up the phone, Skype, iChat….people!
Guilty as charged! I think we’ve all done this at one point or another.
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