When did email start?

Historians and Internet experts believe the first email was used in or around 1965. Email was much different then than it is today and involved composing a message and placing it in a directory so that the intended recipient could see it the next time she logged on to the computer.

The first type of email system used was called MAILBOX. When email first came about, it required both the recipient and sender to be online at the same time, which made it highly inefficient for most people.

Beginning in the 1960s, multiple users in one location could log into a central computer to share files. Over the years, this technology expanded to become the email system most people are familiar with today.