Poll: Are the days of email over?

Whatever this person is doing on their laptop, it's unlikely they're emailing (Reuters)

When web-based emailing first swooshed onto our screens in the 90s, it revolutionised the way we communicate. And for many of us, it’s still the best way to send things to each other. But among young people (aka "The Future") could the days of sending and receiving (and occasionally retrieving) already be over?

They are according to Sir Steve Smith, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Exeter, who has said “there is no point” in emailing his students anymore. According to Sir Steve, the youth of today prefer to get in touch with his staff via Twitter.

To deal with all the messages they receive, the university now has a "round-the-clock team of press officers and graduates savvy with social media”.

But just because it’s now easier to get a quick answer via Twitter from the University of Exeter - who students are now paying £9,000 a year to attend - does this really mean young people have really stopped emailing altogether?

Personally I'm not so sure. I graduated from the University of Exeter just two years ago, and email was the only way I ever communicated with my tutors and department. And during my master's this year, 140 characters never seemed like enough for most of the messages I needed to send.

But at the same time, it doesn't matter if you're young or not: when was the last time you emailed someone outside of work, or a friend? There are now so many different ways to send photos and files. And and email is no longer the easiest, or quickest. Compared to Snapchat, it's not even that fun.

So could email be on its way out? Or is it already dead? Let us know by taking our poll and leaving any comments below: