Is Email a toxic system?

Mr. Suster wrote an article explaining how his perceptions of inefficiency.  I must admit that using other forms to communicate like Twitter took some doing.  I used to love doing IRC when I was younger, but I was hesitant to change.  I was encouraged by a younger friend to do Twitter and now I appreciate it for its helpfulness.  If email tends to lead to wordiness, and twitter to spartan, is there a middle ground?  IM is wordiness too since it’s not always clear how much time the other person has.  I like the asynchronicity of twitter vs. IM.