Email is NOT dead. Despite everything that has been invented in an effort to replace it, email is still the only common denominator that everybody in the world uses.

Since getting off social media, I’ve tried using email to connect with friends and it has been a good experience.

> Despite everything that has been invented in an effort to replace it, email is still the only common denominator that everybody in the world uses.

Second after SMS.

I don't think so, but I would never expect an answer to a cold email trying to rekindle a friendship. I all but ignore my email until I am expecting something in particular, anything that was sent to me between now and the last time I expected something I may never read.

To each their own I guess. I usually reply to any non-recruiter human who has taken the time to send me an email directly (not a list), even if it's just a one-line response. Especially if it's an old friend you've lost touch with.

I sincerely believe most people also would, but the problem is that outside of the workplace email has become mostly a marketing and notification channel.

Most non-tech people I know have hundreds, if not thousands of unread messages in their inboxes and will probably miss some unexpected ones.

That's me. I turn off as many notifications as I can yet somehow I still get too many.

in my personal experience, email is completely dead. even the multiple mailing lists I belong to, some of which I personally run, have moved wholesale into the slack channels we made to augment them.

I'm sure it's alive in some circles, but I haven't contacted any friends through email in years.

So you use a mix of text, FB, WhatsApp, etc?

Yup, pretty much. Different ones depending on which circles I'm engaging with.

You can’t sign up for Facebook or Instagram without an email address.

This might not be true for every region, but it has been possible to use a phone number instead of email on both for a few years.