E-mail is a tricky thing. Use it and you’re wasting time. Forget about it and you’re shirking a duty. Replace the telephone with it and you’re following the crowd. Send a forward and you’re annoying. Reply to messages and start a vicious circle. Get an attachment and you’re important. Fail to open the attachment and someone tries to tell you how to double-click a mouse.

Most of all, send messages to others and you’re “keeping in touch.”

E-mail and the Internet have taken over communication. .pdf, .gif, .doc, .tif, .eps & all these must register a certain file type or program in your head. Not to mention that you should know how to use the programs.

Most of the letters the Northern Star gets come by e-mail to [email protected]. Those that come by paper surprise me & after all, doesn’t everyone use e-mail? It was supposed to replace paper, like the rest of the computer-related functions.

Plus, all the Web sites have a place to e-mail the Webmaster or the creator of the site. Except that if you’re not particularly proficient with the computer, you get a message that says you have to specify a return e-mail or sender e-mail and that until you do so, no e-mail will be sent with a click, thank you very much.

So people had to learn how to change their preferences section.

Filling out forms on the Internet made people worry about security & still does, actually. Most of the alarm probably came from the Sandra Bullock movie “The ‘Net” which detailed the taking over of a person’s life by getting all their information off the Internet. The movie did raise a valid point.

Everything’s on there.

I mean everything, too. For instance, if you look up my name (or yours, if you’re a student) on the NIU home page you’ll find my home address, my phone number and some other useless stuff, like my logon ID. Too bad it doesn’t offer my e-mail password & my e-mail would be fascinating for everyone, I’m sure.

Not to mention the millions of search engines that include phone books, reverse phone books and, if you pay enough on some sites, you can have my Social Security number. Then the real party can start. (Do you want to be a senior journalism major? How about having a 1986 Cutlass Ciera with rust on the sides?)

The Internet also gives us a wealth of knowledge & at the mercy of everyone else’s knowledge. Do you ever check the source of those Web sites you quote in your papers? Does Joe Schmoe really know everything about guppies? Well, to check that, you can try to find a name on the site, or you can check the page source. Just go to view and page source. It’ll give you the code behind the page which may include a name or e-mail for those without the latest Internet functions.

Or you can e-mail the Webmaster. That is, if you’ve set your preferences correctly.

Working the Internet sometimes becomes a vicious circle. While it opens the lines of communication, you don’t know who you’re talking to until you look it up or you meet them in person. Half the job exchanges these days are by e-mail, but that won’t tell you where you want to work.

In fact, all an e-mail can tell you is the basic information. The rest is up to your interpretation. It’s like a typed letter but not as good. It’s definitely not as good as a handwritten note. The writing isn’t sloppy, as if the writer is in a hurry, or blotched with tears, as if they are crying, or bubbly, as if the writer can’t express their glee.

E-mail can be bland and lifeless & but it’s quick. And speed wins the contest. Paper and personal interviews haven’t been eliminated & yet.

Using the Internet made people concerned with a lot of things & credibility, security, intricacies of the computer. But it didn’t make us concerned about how we’re communicating with others. It should.