Dying E mail

I like E mail better than any other form of electronic communication. But I now see that I am becoming a lone wolf baying at the moon. E mail seems to be dying a slow death, replaced by instant and text messaging, blogs, and social networking sites like MySpace. More people now see E mail as only a device used at the office for work, a way of reaching a parent, teacher, sending or receiving a confirmation of a transaction they made or of sending an attached file. Sigh....In a world of mindless cell phone gab and instant gratification, my beloved E mail has become the new "snail mail", used by fewer and fewer people for more deep conversations. To many E mail is associated only with work or school and no as away to express oneself in greater detail and with forethought.
And too, this means that people have stopped responding to my E mail as they used to, either writing very infrequently or just not writing at all. I have had a few friends disappear in my mail box because they wanted to chat on line or were "too lazy to answer". It is a sign of the way society is today, that we want every aspect in our lives to be completed easily and instantly. In effect, when immediacy is valued, cell phones and instant messaging win out over E mail every time.
We are now in an age when immediacy is seen as good and reflective communication (E mail) is viewed as bad. It is a pity for me, as I do not like IM, hate cell phones and prefer thoughtful E mail. I will eventually be a dinosaur on a computer and may find it hard to find interesting people to E mail. If it happens I will disappear rather than use the other means of communication, for those are not thoughtful enough for me.
One aspect I most like about E mail is that it is slower. The writer must read and digest the other's mail, think about it and formulate a more intelligent response. With the other forms of instant communication people seem to lazy or unwilling to think about what they wish to say, and this say it with less clarity and less sincerity. "Don't want to take the trouble of writing a thoughtful E mail? Text or IM them! It's the ultimate crutch to avoid thinking and expressing oneself clearly.
Yes, chat can be interesting and fun. But chat is apple pie, not the entree. We need more entrees and fewer desserts to have a healthy communication. Otherwise, our brains become fat and lazy. Don't believe me? Just observe those cell addicts jabbering away inconsequentially on their cell phones the next time you are in a mall or movie theater. Listen closely and then tell me if they are communicating or just talking loudly.