What are the disadvantages of electronic mail?

If electronic mail or e-mail is being used properly it can give so much help to every individual. But sad to say if there are advantages, there are also disadvantages in terms of using an e-mail but advantages outweigh the disadvantages by far.

Here are the disadvantages of emails: 

• Emails may carry viruses. These are small programs that harm your computer system. They can read out your email address book and send themselves to a number of people around the world. 

• Emails cannot really be used for official business documents. They may be lost and you cannot find them. Unfortunately if your messages are lost, there is no way to restore them unless you can contact the sender of that email and if they have a copy of it then you can have it back but sad to say if there is no back up for that message it is considered lost and there is no way to retrieve them. 

• Spam emails can be sent which can clutter your inbox. Spam emails are unwanted emails sent to your inbox. It takes a lot of time to filter out the unwanted emails from those that are really important. 

• If you don't know the email address of the other person then you can't send them a message. 

• Misunderstandings can occur if messages are not constructed properly. It is better to maintain and follow email etiquette. 

• Other party cant be contacted immediately if one of you does not have internet connection. It needs both to have internet access to send and get a reply instantly and sad to say not everyone has internet connectivity.

• Confidential information can be easily forwarded and disseminated. It needs extra careful when sending email because if this can be done in error it could easily end up in the wrong hands.

• It can be a way to scam or hack other's account. If you are not careful and conscious enough to click on the link on a suspicious email, then it could be a way for the sender to track and check on your confidential information and hack them, send your contacts false information and ask money from them.

The examples of disadvantages of email above are just a few of the many examples.

"I hate the computer. I hate their spell-check. I won't ever do e-mail." - David Mamet