Email retains ugly charm

[Bloomberg]( Follow Us //link.mail.bloombergbusiness.com/click/18864264.84594/aHR0cHM6Ly90d2l0dGVyLmNvbS90ZWNobm9sb2d5/582c8673566a94262a8b49bdB02cfd62d [Get the newsletter]( Hi, this is Vlad in Tokyo. In a world where everything connected to the internet seems to have been optimized, glamorized, monetized and advertised, email can seem like an artifact from a bygone era. The mechanics of sending and receiving electronic mail haven't changed since the start of the internet and may stay with us forever. Yes, that statement will send chills down office workers' spines, which are already bent out of shape from hours of sitting bleary-eyed in front of screens responding to barrages of electronic missives. But email endures. According to Adobe's latest [data](, we're now churning through more than three hours of work email and two hours of personal email per day. Two decades into the 21st century, after a litany of work-comms startups like Slack Technologies Inc. tried and failed to kill email, the old ways remain. Everything likable about the web has been distorted and mutated into a cash cow. Video sharing from people around the world? It's now guarded by YouTube pre-roll ads or premium subscriptions. Photo sharing? You'll have to scroll past Instagram ads. Games? You're either subscribing, sitting through ads or, increasingly often, having to do both. Email, on the other hand, like the brutalist simplicity of Craigslist, is just kind of there: a crude vessel for content at a time when everything else has become too shiny and attention-grabbing. It's the matte-screen ThinkPad laptop in a coffee shop filled with glossy and vibrant MacBooks. The popularity of newsletters like this one also speaks to the overly frothy and in-your-face design of most modern websites. Sometimes people just want to read without constant distractions or auxiliary visual stimuli. Email has calcified into the frumpy and unfashionable thing that real-world mail is. Used for professional and spammy reasons, the repository for bills and other things you'd prefer not to think about. That's what makes employers comfortable with its use, even if workers can get more done by networking on a site like Twitter. I'm glad we still have the old ways. The ones that don't auto-play videos or algorithmically decide to show me Kanye West's latest outpouring of multimillionaire wisdom. In the shrill, kaleidoscopic and extremely online world of TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, it's good to have technology that does as little as I want it to. Sponsored Content by Baker Hughes [Baker Hughes.]( An energy technology company.  And here’s what you need to know in global technology news: [Intel Is First to Share Detailed Pay Disparities. It’s Not Flattering.[arrow]]( New transparency shows familiar old divisions, with white and Asian men earning the most. The company says disclosure is a crucial step. [TikTok Owner Is Testing Music App in Bid for Next Global Hit[arrow]]( TikTok owner ByteDance Inc. is testing a new music app in emerging markets as it tries to pull off another global sensation akin to its viral video-sharing service. [Apple’s New Mac Can Cost $52,000. That’s Without the $400 Wheels[arrow]]( Apple Inc. started selling its new Mac Pro desktop computer on Tuesday, complete with eye-watering pricing options that can push the cost north of $50,000. [Three Men Are Charged in $722 Million Cryptocurrency Fraud (2)[arrow]]( Three men were charged by U.S. prosecutors with helping run a $722 million cryptocurrency fraud that amounted to a “high-tech Ponzi scheme.”  Like Bloomberg's Fully Charged? [Subscribe for unlimited access]( to trusted, data-based journalism in 120 countries around the world and gain expert analysis from exclusive daily newsletters, The Bloomberg Open and The Bloomberg Close. Before it's here, it's on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can't find anywhere else. [Learn more](.  You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Fully Charged newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Bloomberg.com]( | [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022