To change or not to change your email
By: Emily Malebranche-Trevisan
Whether or not we are using social media for our internships, we are learning about the different media available and how to use them. One of the issues I have run into with these different media at my internship is identifying the need for a work appropriate email.
No doubt most of us have had to change our emails before, or have even done so every few years (my first two email addresses including Greek mythological characters or the phrase ‘moonlight dance’). Sometimes it is necessary to stand back to see how you are coming across to other people in your online presence.
Creating that new account has it perks, like staying off of junk mail lists for the first few years of ownership. That new account can also give you a fresh start and make it very easy to manage your mail, especially if you are pushing 3,000 other emails of who knows what in your older accounts that you never deleted and do not feel like going through.
But I can’t help but feel like I am cheating on my Yahoo account (my older account)! Sure, it is enticing to start fresh, especially when another email service like Gmail will offer to import your established contacts and older emails. But Yahoo and I have been together for a few years now. We have begun establishing a semi-professional life together. We network between school, work and family everyday.
I did create my Gmail account. My Gmail mistress is fine and all, but she takes some getting used to. The font feels too big, and the graphics feel clustered. I feel like this whole page is suffocating me…
Besides simply remembering to give people my Gmail account to contact me, it can also be a bit of a pain to switch your contacts over when you have already been networking with professionals, or interviewing sources for a story. Also if I let email pile up in my Yahoo box, will I not just do the same with Gmail? Especially when Gmail will move my yahoo stuff over there with a click of a button.
In summation-I believe an adult sounding email is necessary as we step forward into the real world with real professionals, so start there if you do not already have one. And know that even if you have multiple email accounts, the emails do not erase themselves, and your old habits will probably follow you to other inboxes and media, so manage them well. But with the diverse abundance and popularity of social media, updates and changes are happening very fast. It is good not to be married to just one thing these days.
