What This Lesson Covers

A Quick Look Back

• 1970s: Email began as a way to send digital letters.
• 1990s: Became mainstream with Hotmail, Yahoo, and AOL.
• 2000s–2010s: Spam, Gmail’s rise, smartphones, cloud email.
• Today: Still central for businesses, banking, logins, and marketing.

Why Email Still Survives

• Universal Address: Everyone online has an email.
• Ownership: Unlike social media, you own your inbox.
• Formal & Secure: Used for contracts, banking, government.
• Integration Hub: Most apps/services require email for signup and recovery.

Emerging Challenges & Competitors

• Instant Messaging (Slack, WhatsApp, Teams): Faster team collaboration.
• Social Media Messaging: Used for casual conversations.
• AI Noise Filtering: Risk of over-automation drowning genuine messages.
• Security Threats: Phishing, spoofing, and scams test trust.

The Future of Email

• Smarter Inbox: AI organizing messages automatically.
• Identity Layer: Email as digital passport for online life.
• Verified Senders (SPF/DKIM/DMARC/BIMI): Stronger authentication.
• Long-Term Survival: Email unlikely to die, but it will evolve into a smarter, safer, and more visual communication channel.

🥋 Sensei Tip

“Email is like water in the digital world. It may change form, flow through different channels, or even feel outdated at times — but it’s not disappearing anytime soon.”