Everyone is different. I vastly prefer email over chat, but also wouldn't want to live without the occasional face-to-face.
Some people consider email something you MUST answer ASAP, others can have 9000 unanswered emails without an issue. They'll get around to it.
And with chat, some think it's real-time and expect an answer in seconds, others will check $chat_app a few times a day like email and reply.
I personally prefer chat, because you can use it asynchronously, BUT you can escalate to near real-time if everyone is present at the same time. You can have an actual "conversation" via chat - you can't do that with email.