People are people

People kill me. When you send an email out and have a long list of addresses in the “To” field, why is it necessary that every person have the obligatory (Email) next to their name? Isn’t this a given since that’s how you’re sending me this information? I don’t type your phone number in and then punch in the word “phone” to call you, so why do you need to specify that you’re sending us information to an email address?

I assume that this problem stems from people’s habits of leaving their address books to decide the format by which each person is listed. I know my address book likes to list their name, then their email address after. I realize this is redundant, so I erase the email address and just use the name. In the vein of being environmentally conscious, it also saves space. Since the internet is a relatively new tool, it might be possible that there is a limited amount of space out there for these sorts of things, right? I’m sure a number of smart people out there have thought of this already, but I am going to do my part to keep the internet clutter free.

Speaking of clutter-free, this reminds me of a conversation I had some 10 years ago. I don’t remember the nature of the whole conversation, but I do remember it had something to do with sending a postcard from wherever I was going to be while on vacation and how it would probably arrive at it’s destination, in the same city I lived in, after I would return home. Why bother the US postal service with this problem, when I can just bring it home with me and hand it to you? Not to mention, it would save me .33 cents (at that time). By saving myself .33 cents and not sending the postcard, I know I may have forced somebody out of work, or maybe I was the reason the postal service had to raise their rates, but I felt better knowing that someone didn’t have to do a job that I could competently do myself.

So there it is, I am doing my part to keep the internet clutter free and I am saving the time and energy of other people by accomplishing things on my own. Sure, I am taking the fun out of Googling and receiving paper mail that isn’t an advertisement, but I’m not wasting anyone’s time in either of these events and that should be commended.