Ralph got hooked.His wife was often annoyed by the hours he spent at his computer and the money he spent upgrading it.Then I got hooked. E-mail draws me the same way the phone does: it's a souped-up conversation.E-mail deepened my friendship with Ralph.Though his office was next to mine, we rarely had extended conversations because he is shy.Face to face he mumbled, so I could barely tell what he was speaking.But when we both got e-mail, I started receiving long, self-revealing messages; we poured our hearts out to each other.A friend discovered that e-mail opened up that kind of communication with her father.He would never talk much on the phone (as her mother would), but they have become close since they both got on line.Why, I wondered, would some men find it easier to open up on e-mail?It's a combination of the technology (which they enjoy) and the obliqueness of the written word,
