This past week saw the passing of the 50th anniversary of email. That is 50 years since the first email ever was sent. 1971 feels like a lifetime ago for many, and many more weren't even born then. For the latter, they've always known email to be around.

The First Email Ever Sent

The first email was sent by Ray Tomlinson in March 1971. Tomlinson sent the first email because it was what he described as a "neat thing to do." Many people, including himself, didn't really see the point in emails. With telephones as a way to communicate with one another, the idea of emails seemed redundant.

Because email wasn't seen as a viable communication method that would catch on, the initial purpose of email was for file transfer. Email was a way to easily send files to other computer users across a network, without having to make physical copies on a (gasp!) floppy disk. Even to this day, many people still use emails to send files to one another— much larger files, however.

In his first email, Tomlinson just sent the line "QWERTYUIOP." As many people will recognize, this string of seemingly random characters is actually the first line of a standard keyboard.

a mac keyboard layout

For his email, Tomlinson developed the use of the "@" symbol. The reason behind this symbol, which is now regularly used without a second thought, is to literally show where the sender was. Tomlinson also created the fields of an email, those being the sender, subject, date, body of the email, as well as the "from" field.

Where Email Stands Today

Email has come a long way since 1971. They can now write themselves with features like Auto-Advance. Email has adapted and changed over the years, but perhaps Tomlinson was right. Email isn't a great communication method.

Gmail app on smartphone

While email was relied upon for a while, certainly from the 90s to the mid-2000s, we've now shifted away from email.

Email is instant, but not instant enough for the modern-day. Texts, social media, and video calls have taken over emails. Emails have been left in the dark, typically only being used formally or for really annoying marketing emails (let's face it, you've never had a good one).

The Future of Email

Electronic mail has no doubt been useful, influential, and an important step in the development of modern communication. No discredit to the humble email; we stemmed from there of course. We've advanced past email now, but we couldn't have done that without it.

After all, files can now be shared instantly over Bluetooth or AirDrop, solving the problem of the first email in an unimaginable way in the 1970s.