The Tyranny of E-mail (29 page)

anticipation of,
136

checking,
210-11

delivery of,
171

democratization of,
21

earliest,
20

function of,
26

history of,
24-30

importance of,
25

interception of,
50-51

and loss of public space,
171
,
172

newspapers as,
55-56

sorting,
58-60

speed of,
25
,
36
,
60
,
103

success in modern society of,
23-25

volume of,
51
,
54-55
,
131
See also
junk mail; letters; private messaging systems

mail carriers,
27
,
40-41

mailing lists,
57
,
58

manifesto for a slow communication movement,
190-203

McColo,
123

McKibben, Bill,
109-10
,
188

McLuhan, Marshall,
186

McNealy, Scott,
111
,
127

media-free time,
220-21

medieval period,
28-29

meeting places,
169-76
,
195
,
199-202

Meier, Megan,
150-51
,
156

Mencken, H. L.,
54
,
210
,
211

merger transference,
144

messenger boys,
79-80
,
83

Microsoft Corporation,
11
,
123

military,
25-28
,
70-71
,
88
,
90
,
118
,
132

MILNET,
118

monks,
31

Morris, Robert Tappan,
119
,
120

Morse, Samuel F. B.,
20
,
67
,
68-69

mouse,
94
,
95
,
96

multitasking,
13
,
140-41
,
143
,
179

MySpace.com,
145
,
150
,
157
,
166-67

narcissism, new,
166-69

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA),
91

National Education Association (NEA),
179

National Security Agency (NSA),
129-30
,
131

National Security Archive,
182-83
,

natural world, as missing information,
188-89

news, and loss of public space,
173-76

newspapers advertising in,
57
,
174

and changes in how and what is read,
177

cost of,
72

decline in number of,
173-74

e-mail as usurping,
174

local,
175
,
176

and loss of public space,
173-76

mailing of,
55-56

postage for,
34

regional,
176

and telegraph,
71-75
,
76
,
77
,
173

and television,
170

Nonsense Correspondence Club,
42

“now,”
64-65
,
67-68
,
77
,
183-85
.
See also
time

Obama, Barack,
4
,
71
,
111

office workers, and e-mail,
160
.
See also
employees

One Laptop per Child,
187-88

one-to-one communication,
98

online shopping,
170-71

Opiniongrams,
84

PalmPilot,
213

Patent Office, U.S.,
53

Paterson, Don,
146
,
181

patriotism,
68

pens, invention of,
24

phishing,
124-27

photographic technology, domestication of,
99

physical world, importance of,
199-202

pigeons,
27
,
74

political campaigning,
53

political lobbying,
84

political movements,
200

politicians, e-mail blunders of,
116

Pony Express,
38-39
,
71

pornography,
126
,
157

Post Office Department, Canadian,
58

post offices,
33-35
,
40-42
,
172
.
See also
Postal Service, U.S.

postage,
33-34
,
36
,
38
,
39-40
,
54

Postal Act (1845 and 1851),
39

Postal Service, U.S. closure of post offices by,
172

delivery by,
35-39

E-COM of,
59-60

funding for,
36
,
38
,
57-58

impact of e-mail on,
5

impact of Internet on,
100

patronage in,
35

and second- and third-class mail,
55-58

as second-largest employer in U.S.,
24

volume of mail delivered by,
39-40
,
131

postal systems invention of,
25
See also
mail; post offices; Postal Service, U.S.

postcards,
45-48
,
51-52
,
107
,
138
,
147

postmasters,
35
,
40

postmen,
27
,
28
,
40-41

power users,
8

Presidential Records Act,
181

printing press,
20
,
31
,
198

privacy issues,
50-51
,
112-15
,
120
,
127-31
,
149

private industry, and mail in U.S.,
36-37

private messaging systems,
28-29

pseudonyms,
146

public key cryptology,
118

Radicati Group,
103-4

railroad,
61-63
,
64
,
67
,
68
,
69-70
,
77-78
,
185

RAND Corporation,
89
,
91
,
121

reading,
14-16
,
142
,
176-79
,
196

Reagan, Ronald,
182

religion,
31

Reuter, Paul Julius von,
74

rewards, and addiction to e-mail,
137

Rich, Motoko,
178
,
179

Richardson, Samuel,
32
,
180

Romenesko, Jim,
114

rotulae (scrolls),
28

Royal Mail,
33-35
,
76

Royal Observatory,
65-66

Rupp, Robert,
71

Sarbanes-Oxley Act (2002),
128

science fiction,
159

seals,
25

second-class mail,
55-56

security,
120
.
See also
hackers; phishing; viruses

self computers as extensions of,
144-45
See also
identity

September
11
, 2001,
116
,
129

sex,
153
,
154-55

Shirky, Clay,
102
,
218-19

Siegel, Martha S.,
121-22

Skype,
95
,
216
,
218
,
219

sleep,
184-85
,
220

Sloan, William David,
73

slow communication movement, manifesto for,
190-203

Slow Food movement,
201

social networking,
102
,
125-26
,
150
,
166-67
,
210

socio-economic class, and digital divide,
186-88

software,
13

Sontag, Susan,
16
,
46
,
99

sorting mail,
58-60

space boundaries of,
181

boundary between public and private,
183

clearing of,
180

impact of Internet on sense of,
93

information,
95

loss of public,
169-76

and manifesto for a slow communication movement,
195
,
199-202

for meetings,
169-76
,
195
,
199-202

and “now,”
183

technologies as affecting sense of,
64-65

spam,
94
,
120-23
,
125
,
126
,
127
,
147
.
See also
advertising; junk mail

speed importance of,
197-99

and manifesto for a slow communication movement,
190-203

meaning of,
198
See also specific topic

Stafford, Tom,
136-37

stagecoaches,
36-38

stamps, invention of,
24

Standage Tom,
75-76
,
77

Star Trek: The Next Generation
(TV),
159

Startt, James D.,
73

steam engine,
10-11

stenographers,
44-45
,
53

storage, for e-mail,
3

stress,
161-64
,
220

subject line,
214-15

Suler, John,
144
,
145

Summerfield, Arthur,
40
,
50
,
58

swindles,
48-51

taverns, as post offices,
30

technology,
77-80
,
85
,
194
.
See also type of technology

telegrams/telegraph brevity of,
80-84

for business communication,
76

cost of,
20
,
39
,
76
,
83

delivery of,
79-80
,
83

early use of,
20
,
69

in Europe,
69-70
,
83

funding for,
68

and globalization,
21
,
77

government ownership and monitoring of,
76

in Great Britain,
68
,
76
,
77
,
83

for important occasions,
80-82

and information overload,
75-76
,
79

and military,
70-71

and newspapers,
71-75
,
77
,
173

and office workers as telegraph operators,
160

private ownership and operation of,
70

and railroads,
62-63
,
66
,
67
,
68
,
69-70
,
77-78

sensuality of,
107

simultaneity of,
183

singing,
79

speed of,
20
,
103

telephone as competition for,
83

and time,
60
,
85

volume of,
20
,
73
,
76
,
83
,
84

and writing as means of communication,
147

Telenet,
93
,
118

telephone,
83
,
85
,
154-55
,
183
,
215
,
216
,
218

television,
169-70
,
188

telex machines,
59

text, face-to-face communication compared with,
106-7

third-class mail,
57

ticker tape,
167

time anxiety about,
79-80

boundaries of,
181

different senses of,
185

and Greenwich Mean Time,
65-66

impact of Internet on sense of,
93

as kept by solar noon,
67

and letters,
85

and manifesto for a slow communication movement,
199

media-free,
220-21

as not uniformly felt,
84

and “now,”
185

and railroads,
61-63
,
64
,
67
,
185

standardization of,
61-63
,
66
,
78
,
84
,
183
,
185

synchronized,
67

and technology,
64-65
,
85

and telegraph,
60
,
85

and telephone,
85

time zones,
66

to-do lists,
213-14
,
217

Tomlinson, Ray,
20-21
,
92

trains.
See
railroad transatlantic cable,
72

transparent eyeball,
96-97
,
154

Trojan horse,
122
,
123

Trow, George W. S.,
169
,
171
,
192

Twain, Mark,
37
,
43-44
,
81
,
108

Twenge, Jean,
168
,
169

twice-a-day rule,
210-13
,
216

Twitter,
2
,
13
,
167

typewriters,
42-45
,
53
,
57
,
94
,
112

United Kingdom addiction to e-mail in,
138

burnout in,
161

United Kingdom (
cont.
) decline in number of newspapers in,
173