It is often difficult to think of life before the advent of some possession that we now have. For example, it can be difficult to think what we did before there were mobiles or smartphones. We are certain that within a few decades it will be difficult to think of life before there were Google cars or similar self-driving cars. Similarly, it is difficult to think of a time before emails.
“The History of Email” infographic shows that emails are actually older than most people are aware. It states that the first email was in 1971. However, the history is even longer. A cursory glance at Wikipedia says that 1971 was the year of the first networked email and that email had its origins in 1962.
It states that the word “spam” was added to the OED in 1998. Those of us who are old enough to remember the late 90s and early 00s as the time when there were probably 100 junk emails for every 1 desired email. Fortunately, email providers such as Google, Yahoo, Outlook, Rediff and others now have a great many filters which eliminate most unwanted and unexpected emails.
Perhaps we all remember (since it is occurring now) that the history of email is the history of email. Email seems to be getting replaced by messaging through various social media, and through communicating via Skype. But who knows what the future will bring?
Likes: We love trivia and were glad to learn that Queen Elizabeth II was the first head of state to send an email (although we highly doubt that she sent the email implied in the infographic).
Dislikes: It provides just one mention of the last 7 years.
Click to enlarge
courtesy: reachmail.net