The psychology behind why we lie in emails
There’s been quite of lot of attention in the media recently surrounding the empty words and meaningless phrases we use to fill our emails of late.
As Fairfax Media’s Natalie Reilly writes, “It appears to be a poorly kept secret that a large part of adulthood involves sending missives back and forth without ever actually achieving anything.”
Reilly continues: “But, in 2017 we're at peace with such messiness – likely because we have accepted how much we hate talking on the phone – and now just need to know how to dodge, delay and ultimately decline plans in the most painless way possible, while simultaneously sending out emails asking why there is a delay with X and when can we meet to discuss it.”
More than ever people seem to be comfortable with a cluttered inbox, to the point where a range of common expressions have been created to control the messiness.
Here are four of the most common:
1. “Hope you're well”
Rather than a genuine wish for someone to be faring well, this is just a statement used to precede the topic of the email which is much less pleasant.
2. “Just checking in”
This is quite a cheesy line, especially for people who are working in a corporate environment. This only means you haven’t received a response to your question.
3. “Not Sure if You…”
This statement generally hides the actual malice in the email’s content!
4. “Sorry! Your Email Went to My Junk Folder!”
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but this is almost certainly not what happened.