Old Politicians, Your Disdain of Email Is Embarrassing

We've learned of late that Lindsey Graham doesn't like to email. Nor does Chuck Schumer, John McCain, Pat Roberts, Bill Clinton, Richard Shelby, Orrin Hatch, and other power-brokers of, shall we say, a certain age. The thing is, they all seem to be proud of it, as if their smug condescension toward an essential tool of modern life is a good thing, complain two much younger writers. "From now on they should be called by their rightful title: the Laziest Generation," writes Elspeth Reeve in the New Republic, extending her criticism beyond the DC set. At the Washington Post, Catherine Rampell dubs the political offenders the "Luddite Caucus" and is astonished they're often the same people making laws about technology.

Some of their shots:

• Rampell: "Not taking the time to learn to communicate the way that pretty much everyone else in the nation does reveals such mindboggling levels of societal incuriosity that it should be considered political malpractice. ... If you’re still using a carrier pigeon while lecturing us about how it’s our fault that we haven’t acquired the skills desirable to 21st-century employers, don’t expect our vote." Click for her full post.
• Reeve: "Every single day, from fancy offices in Washington to humbler ones across Middle America, boomers and their Silent Generation elders are preying on millennials: stealing time from them by refusing to learn technology and therefore making extra work for everybody else. ... Email is a tool. The internet is a tool. Humans use tools, it’s what separates us from, like, manatees." Click for her full post.

(More email stories.)