A decade in, we’ve grown so comfortable with social media platforms that it’s almost socially acceptable to blatantly browse them at work (though it might be difficult to argue their professional utility unless you work in a marketing role). In fact, the creative director of the magazine I edit messages me on Facebook more often than he sends me emails.
For the most part, that’s great. Facebook Messenger is well integrated into my life, works great on my Android phone, and is easy to use on my laptop. That said, the system’s not without its faults: Sometimes, he’ll catch me in the middle of writing a story, asking for a status update—which, as a writer, can sometimes throw me off. Other times, I’ll forget a detail he mentions in our conversation, and things get tricky when I need to reference something he said but can’t search for it with the same precision compared to Gmail. As a result of the social media platform’s universality, the line between messages best delivered through email and those that are appropriate for a friendly chat is quickly thinning. The result? An always-on mentality that causes meaning to dissipate.