Email to become extinct in 10 years?

Email could die-out in the next ten years in favour of instant messaging, says TalkTalk.

According to research by the ISP in conjunction with a social anthropologist from the University of Kent, just 51 percent of all 'First Lifers' or those in their teens and early 20s that are tech savvy, use email on a regular basis.

Instead the group relies on social networks such as Twitter and Facebook, along with texting and instant messaging to communicate with friends and colleagues.

TalkTalk nicked said that older generations were more likely to use email to communicate with 96 percent of all tech savvy 45-64 year olds citing it as their preferred form of communication compared to 87 percent of 25-34 year olds.

"Email has been the dominant mode of communication over the internet for the past 20 years, but that doesn't mean it always will be," said Mark Schmid from TalkTalk.

"Increasingly people want to send quick, short messages reaching many people in one go, and there are now better ways of doing that than via email. Based on the trends we're seeing now, email could well be on its last legs by the end of the next decade."

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See also: 33% of Brits use personal email at work