One of the challenges in our modern world is that people have different favourite methods of communication.

And that can be a problem because of so many options.

Not so long ago, communication meant speaking with someone face to face or taking a phone call.

There was the postal system for the written word but then facsimile machines gave some added convenience.

For me, email was the game changer.

It had the convenience of faxing, but in full colour, and I could access the email from wherever I was.

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Fast forward to today and one impediment to communication is the fact there are too many tools to choose from.

We can email, fax (it does still exist), or use SMS, and then the number of choices for social media messaging almost seems endless - Messenger; WhatsApp; Instagram DM; Telegram; TikTok DM; Twitter DM; Slack ...and many more.

Faxing surged in popularity from 1980 when the ITU G3 Facsimile Standard was developed.

By 1990, more than 100 million fax machines were in usage across the world.

Faxing would never have been as popular if it was brand specific.

Imagine if I wanted to send you a fax but I needed to buy the same brand fax machine as you.

In effect, that is the situation we have with social media messaging - although rather than buy a different brand fax machine we download the required app for free.

Managing all of the different platforms to be on top of your messaging can be a full-time job.

Which gets me back to email.

Just like the fax machine, it still seems universal.

Every phone, PC and tablet can have email and I don't need to worry about what you have at your end to send you a message.

Plus, I can send a message at a time convenient to me and you can answer it at a time convenient to you.

As much as I prefer email, there are still some people I know who just love to pick up the phone and talk.

I send an email and I receive a phone call.

That is fine except it seems to me that a phone call is pot luck.

A phone call could be thought of as a demand for a meeting without an appointment.

It seems lucky if you're happy to call someone and they are available right then and there to have a conversation.