I like email or am I getting old?

Recently, as I had to switch away from my struggling start-up, I worked for a couple of tech companies as a consultant. In practical terms, I was part of these companies’ teams — so I was connected to all of their internal systems and involved in various daily interactions with other team members.

I had to use Slack.

God, I hated it — all the fucking groups, channels, notifications, emojis, and so on; the very nature of it — you’re expected to reply in real-time. The away or in-meeting notification doesn’t help. It’s still too real-time. Once I stubbornly kept emailing and my boss told me to slack, complaining that it’s impossible to keep track of email. Well, how the hell is it possible to keep track of a million messages in Slack?

Not that I’m out of touch with technology (or am I?) but I like email so much better. It feels more professional, better paced, better traceable, and more respectful of one’s privacy. I am not by the way pedantic with my emails. There are some people whose emails are always perfect — well-composed and typo-free. I am not like that. I am casual with my communication unless it’s something very important being sent to a client. I’m also heavy on text messaging both in my personal life and professional. I’m responsive too. Thanks to my investment banking roots, I’m always on my smartphone checking my email. I have no problem replying outside of business hours.

But Slack? not my thing. I understand of course there is a need for some real-time messenger…