Basic Email
The article describes a minimalist approach to email, arguing that basic text-based email without HTML formatting, attachments beyond plain text, or complex organizational systems is more efficient and less distracting. It emphasizes the benefits of plain text communication, simple threading, and avoiding the cognitive overhead of folders and tags.
Background
- A personal essay from a Columbia-affiliated author defending "Basic Email" — plain, text-only email — as a deliberate alternative to modern email clients that push chat-like interfaces, read receipts, rich formatting, and automated sorting.
- The piece joins a longstanding tech-cultural debate: convenience and features (championed by services like Superhuman, Hey, and Gmail) versus simplicity, privacy, and user control (a tradition running from terminal-based clients like Mutt to today's "plain text" advocates).
- Key technical concepts assumed as familiar: SMTP/IMAP (the open protocols underlying email), HTML email vs. plain text, GPG encryption, and the difference between an email client (e.g., Thunderbird) and an email service (e.g., Gmail).
- Published under a 2026 dateline — likely a near-future or speculative framing, but rooted in very real present-day frustrations with email tooling.