Not using email

A thing that annoys me is the way so many tourist attractions give an email or website address with no mention of where they are. You find the website, think it looks really interesting, and then you find it's at the other end of the country!

Deedaa

A thing that annoys me is the way so many tourist attractions give an email or website address with no mention of where they are. You find the website, think it looks really interesting, and then you find it's at the other end of the country!

Oh I hate this. No addresses on websites. Also no dates. For example, we go out to eat on Christmas Day and I try to chose a different restaurant each year. Having trawled through various websites I eventually find a Christmas Day menu that sounds lovely. I phone the restaurant only to be told that this was last year's menu and they haven't posted a new one yet. Why not make it clear online. For clarity I start looking around September.

But that aside, yes OP I agree. People shouldn't give out email addresses if they have no intention of using them.

Similar to people who have an answerphone ‘I forget to listen to messages’.

Thanks for replies.
Yes Deedaa I find lack of location frustrating too - and out of date info on websites too.

I totally fail to understand why some people absolutely refuse to engage with the 21 st century. Like many, I enjoy receiving a hand written letter but they are rare indeed. The cost of postage and postal delays make for difficulties.
Why, just why refuse to use email?
I could say the same for online banking but I can appreciate that some people don’t use it. They must have simple financial arrangements.
A smart phone is essential for people claiming benefits.
I do wonder what else might become essential to master in my lifetime. I would hate to become excluded from mainstream life when I get older. I am not the most tech savvy person, but it really has saved time being able to scan and email various documents as executor.

I think some people almost take an inverted sense of 'pride' in not engaging with new forms of technology. It's very strange. As you say, you don't have to be particularly tech savvy to do simple things like emailing.

I received a hand written letter recently from. a friends daughter after I sent her flowers for her mums funeral it was a thank you letter with very kind words and so nice to receive. I wouldn’t have thanked her for an email at this sad time.

If you want to exclude yourself from the benefits of technology you are free to do so, but don’t complain when you miss the advantages.

I belong to two organisations for retired people and we regularly communicate by email.
Some of the members complain that they don’t know about events and when you say that it went out by email they say either “I only look at that once a week/month”, or another said “I only look at my email when I know someone is sending something”.
Would they only read their post weekly or only check for post if they were expecting something?

I have a few friends - all with husbands, who have never got their heads round emails. I assume that they have left it to their husbands to learn how to use emails and rely on them to help if they ever want to send an email themselves.

Maybe I would have been the same if I had a husband, but live on my own so have taken the time to become pretty competent.

I find it restricts my communications with said friends, as I'm pretty sure that husbands will read my messages too.Not that I'm writing anything scurrilous, but there are topics that I would prefer to share only with female friends.

I have a friend who now lives at the other end of the country to myself so I cannot help her. She has bought a state of the art computer but all she can do is check her premium bonds each month!

I am not tech savvy but I do try. I drive one GN friend crazy by asking her for help and advice. I do not have a 7 year old living in this 80 year old old biddy's home to help me.

Yes quite a few couples I know share an email address!

i ordered something online last night, they would not accept my order unless i gave an email address, it seems to be the same with mobile numbers, i have a mobile i only use if i go out, i have a house phone that i would rather use and anyone can leave a message. a few weeks ago i was on the phone about a complaint to a company, they said it would be difficult to help without an email address and mobile number.....so annoying.

Cabbie21

I don’t understand why some people provide an email address to an organisation they belong to but refuse to read or reply to emails, then complain that they didn’t know about something. A choir friend was most indignant that she was ticked off by the librarian for not ordering this term’s music. We were meant to respond to an email last November. “ Oh I hate emails” she said. I am sure arrangements can be made for those who genuinely do not have email, but if you provide an email address, you should use it. I had no sympathy. Rant over.

"Oh I hate emails" she said

That is so lame.

She should create an automatic reply for incoming emails to that effect so the sender will know their message might well not be read. But they have done their duty in sending it. Any fall-out caused by not reading it is then down to this silly woman.

I don't understand the mentality either Cabbie21.

If you don't like the email method of communication, don't give people your email address!

If you run a business or organization of any kind then emails are far preferable to texts as a means of communication. You can prepare them in advance and then send out a mass distribution.

I have a series of "stock" emails which I use to respond to customer queries and can be quickly cut and pasted in. Saves a lot of time and being drawn in to potentially contentious problems.

Texts are all very well if you are on the move and want to tell someone you will be there in x minutes or are running late. I dont rate them for detailed communication.

We were having this conversation over Christmas. A friend of ours won't have a computer or a smart phone. He is 80. About 10 years ago he was scammed online. This made him so anxious that in the end the GP told him to avoid his computer and his anxiety would go away which it did.

Now he is much older, understandably, his more modern daughter would like him to have WhatsApp so she can add him to family chats and to be able to video call him so she can see how he is as she lives at the opposite end of the country. He just refuses point blank. Now he is becoming less able to get about, he is finding lots of services aren't available to him without an online service. It's a tough one and I can see it from both sides.

I think some people almost take an inverted sense of 'pride' in not engaging with new forms of technology

One reason why some people claim not to "engage" with technology is that It gives them an excuse not to be drawn into unpleasant things or doing favours which they wish to avoid.

I am always amazed at the threads on Mumsnet where someone reports getting a nasty text or email or whatsapp from some neighbour. My neighbours dont even know my name let alone my phone number or email address.

If you dont listen to voicemail or have a smart phone then you can be very difficult to contact. I have made an art form of being "difficult to contact" when it was something I didnt want to hear about. Eventually the person trying to contact you will either do it themselves or give up.

The digital divide stats tell us that not everyone has a computer, and the age group is not always older either. But, while I have this and a smart phone, the screen and the app on the phone makes it not so easy to manage emails. What is wrong with people that they are too lazy to pick up the phone for those who don't have email? This is what is forcing people to have one that they do not really want.

I imagine it's almost impossible to have been in employment in the last ten years an not be able to use email, almost every job would require some sort of technology. Refusing to use email when you actually have it and can provide an email address is just plain weird! I do know someone who hasn't ever used the internet. She has a record player and recently upgraded to a VHS video player someone set up for her. I wonder how she's going to cope with using the phone in future. It's not easy to communicate with her as it is, she can't even retrieve a message on her answer-phone!

My sister is 81 and will not use a computer at all. Thus we seldom connect as she lives in Ireland. Landline telephone connection seems poorer now and is to be eliminated, I read recently. At 86, I hate smart phones as they are small, slippery for arthritic hands and expensive but am being forced to rely on them. I telephone my bank as there is no branch within reach, but the answering time can be up to 50 minutes. For years, during their teens, I was unable to communicate with my grandchildren as they did not use email at all. Now grown up, the thank me by email. Modern technology seems to have made all communication more difficult, not easier. Passwords are a nightmare and double verification of one's existence a real nuisance. Only Amazon makes online shopping simple.

I am the secretary of our local WI. I keep records of our 46 members. Everyone apart from one 70 something lady has email. Our oldest member is 98 and absolutely on the ball with IT. The non-email lady seems to pride herself on not owning a computer or even a mobile phone. Her daughter has tried to teach her but she refuses. I find it annoying because, as she is on the committee, every time records are updated, I have to print everything off for her. At least she lives nearby so I don’t have to go trooping off to the other side of the village. Another rant over!

To join certain organizations they insist on an email address, which the client does not want to use but there is no way to get round this obligation.

I too have a very close friend exactly in this position. She doesn’t/wont use email but dictates a message for her husband to send to me! We’ve been friends for fifty years since we met a Uni. Been through a lot together - but unless we phone, I have to communicate via her husband!! She is certainly not far from stupid- but has this aversion to technology 🤦🏼‍♀️.

Bonnybanko

I received a hand written letter recently from. a friends daughter after I sent her flowers for her mums funeral it was a thank you letter with very kind words and so nice to receive. I wouldn’t have thanked her for an email at this sad time.

You would have been upset if someone emailed you a thank you?