E-mail is my favorite means of communication, and I'm not so much a fan of text chat .On the personal space, unfortunately, the power of e-mail has been largely restricted to group-forwards and other spam. Imagine writing letters a couple of decades ago when e-mails were almost non-existent - one had to pen down his thoughts on paper, fold it into an envelope, paste the appropriate postage stamp and drop it into the nearest post-box before the 'next clearance' time. And wait. E-mail replaces this with an instant 'send' button. But the e-mail still lets users to structure their thoughts, allowing them to communicate precisely at their own natural pace.
Chat, on the other hand brings in a level of spontaneity , expecting users to respond immediately and constantly forcing them to 'be at it'. This level of spontaneity may not be required most of the times. I like writing long e-mails and realized that I would have equally enjoyed writing letters for the same reasons if I were born before 50 years.
