Email goes the way of snail mail

Email seems to be going the way of snail mail. Back in the early days, before high-speed communication like the telephone and the Internet, writing a letter was the preferred way to communicate with friends and family. But as the telephone was introduced, and now the Internet, fewer and fewer individuals sent mail to another individual. Today, mail is primarily used to communicate with institutions like banks and utility companies. When was the last time you actually wrote someone a letter, besides a thank you card? My guess is probably never or a long time ago.

So the primary use case of mail went from "individual sending mail to individual" to "institution sending mail to individual."

This same trend seems to be happening with email. When email was first being used it was primarily a way for individuals to communicate with other individuals. But as more and more companies started using it as their communication mechanism to individuals and as individuals started seeking more useful communication mechanisms, like text messaging and social network sites, email is going the way of mail.

Outside of work I rarely use email to communicate with friends or family. I would say 90% of my incoming personal email is from a business or some sort of automated email system and I send out very few emails.

So, what happened to snail mail and email?

What is the next communication method to follow the path of snail mail and email?

I have some possible answers, but I will leave them up to your imagination.