The Social Obligation of Emails...

One of the challenges for each of us as we adapt to new technologies is understanding how to use them most efficiently.

Just because it is easy for me to upload and send out 500 pictures doesn't mean it's easy for you to view them all.

This topic came up recently with the NFO as I relayed to her my impression of an email following our return from Israel.

I was processing our pictures from the trip and on the storage card were some pictures from other events. As I usually do, I sent the pics out to various others who were in them (or of their kids). All together, it was about 30 different notes.

They were prefaced with "sorry for the delay in sending these pics of your kids, but we were in Israel, etc."

Two types of responses came back.

• "Thanks. How was Israel?"
• "Thanks. Hope Israel was great."

I told the NFO that my initial impression was that an email with an open-ended question on a large subject actually created a social burden and a potentially awkward situation.

I could:

• Write a terse response, such as "It was great."
• Write a lengthy, individual response.
• Not reply at all.

Either way, I felt that, while the intentions may have been good, and it is certainly easy to ask, the sender put me in a difficult position.

• If I wrote a terse response, he may take it as a brush off
• If I wrote a long response, I'd have to invest a lot of time to complete it
• If I didn't respond, she might feel I ignored her.

The NFO scoffed at this notion, thinking I was over-analyzing and putting too much weight on the amount of time it would take to respond with "It was great," and just move on.

The question here is: if someone sends an email where the question is broad and open-ended, what is the best way to respond? 

And a follow on:  Given the nature of email, should we EVER be sending broad, open-ended questions or are they better reserved for phone/in-person conversations?