But something many people overlook is the medium of communication. The medium can be almost as important as the actual information being conveyed, for many reasons. How a message is framed affects the state of mind of both sender and receiver, the amount of information that is conveyed, and the efficiency of information conveyance, among other things.

The point of all this is that e-mail is often overused as a form of communication. People use e-mail because it’s quick and easy, but this is also part of its downfall.

When people want to send a message in a hurry, they often use e-mail. They may also try to find ways to speed up the process. This leads to messages that are poorly structured and filled with grammar and spelling mistakes. While this may not matter when sending a quick hello to a friend, the mindset can extend to other e-mails. Your boss or a potential employer may not be impressed with the results.

Because e-mail is so quick, it often carries less weight. For example, although e-mail could and should be a wonderful way for more Americans to get in touch with their elected representatives, those people often attach less weight to e-mails than letters and telephone calls from their other constituents. Their perception that e-mails take less effort to send colors their perception of the importance of the e-mails they receive.

E-mail can also be an inappropriate, or at least inefficient, way to get a point across. Plain text, or even HTML, does not convey much information about tone or importance. Passages that are meant to be sarcastic or tongue-in-cheek are often misinterpreted in e-mail; that is less of a problem in a face-to-face conversation or phone call. A written report or webpage can better include images and graphs to impart more detailed information.

One of the major disadvantages of e-mail is the detached state of mind the sender is often in. E-mail tends to dehumanize the recipient in the mind of the sender, or at the very least insulate the one from the other. Because of this, people are often inconsiderate and downright rude in messages. This can have negative consequences in future dealings.

One final thought: e-mails are fairly permanent. A careless statement in an e-mail can tank a friendship, or even a corporation, if the e-mail is forwarded to someone who was never intended to see it. Messages have been subpoenaed in trials, like the Microsoft anti-trust trial.