Re: E-mail: How does it affect our lives?

["Delaney, Misti" <ncr02!ncr02!mdelaney -at- UCS01 -dot- ATTMAIL -dot- COM>]

     Worthington said:
     > I do still have my questions about the long-term effects on our
     > interpersonal skills.

     To which Karen replied:
     Well, I've been using e-mail as a major form of communication for 15
years.<snip>
     I haven't noticed any decline in my social skills.

     If you have bad social skills, e-mail may provide an opportunity to
     improve them.

I agree with Karen, and I think it can be especially true for young people.
 At least it has been in my family.  My elder son was always the "social
one", whenever there was a gathering, he tended to hold the center of
attention.  That put his softspoken younger brother at a social disadvantage
and he reacted by becoming very shy.

About two years ago, my younger son discovered the electronic community.
 There he was accepted for who he was and no one realized he was "shy" or
softspoken.  His new friends appreciated his gentle wit and his thoughtful
insights and he began to come out of himself.  Not just on-line, though it
started there.  Now Corey has many friends, both on-line and face to face --
and he's going steady for the first time with a young lady he originally met
on-line.

When I was growing up, I had a temperament similar to Corey's.  I eventually
came into my own -- but I was in my twenties before I met a group of people
who appreciated me for who I was and took the time to listen to my quiet
voice and discover I had something to say.

I credit e-mail and electronic conferencing with giving my younger son the
practice with his social skills that he needed to come into his own.