Last night over dinner, one of my oldest and dearest friends mentioned that she had spent some time yesterday writing a letter to her daughter who is attending college in the Midwest. She explained that she had found a beautiful card and decided to send it, accompanied by a letter.
I email regularly with her daughter, as does she, so I was intrigued.
“Really?” I said with surprise. “You sent her snail mail?”
“Yes,” she responded enthusiastically. “I want her to receive mail. You know . . . good, old fashioned mail. A letter.”
It seemed like a quaint idea to me.
I don’t know whether the forces of the universe conspire for the purpose of giving me material to write about here or if I am simply better some days than others at paying attention and gathering inspiration. I suspect it might be a combination of the two.
No matter because this past week, I have been attuned and given a lot of consideration to the manner in which we communicate with each other these days. More and more, I find that I impart information to others almost exclusively vie email.
Since In Treatment concluded, I have been enjoying John Adams on HBO. I highly recommend it. As I was watching the most recent installment a couple of nights ago, I was fascinated by the stretches of time that elapsed between major events because of how slowly information was communicated in those days.
A couple of scenes were particularly striking. In one, Abigail Adams, brilliantly portrayed by Laura Linney, was elated when she finally received a packet of letters from her husband who was away from her for long stretches of time throughout their marriage. In another scene, she arrived in Paris after a lengthy voyage from America, finally reunited with him after yet another separation that apparently spanned several years. They had to get reacquainted. She questioned why he did not write more often. The resulting exchange between the two characters was beautifully written and poignantly acted. As I watched, it occurred to me that the two characters not only spent endless months wondering about the well-being and activities of the other, but also did not hear each other’s voices at all during those long stretches of time spent apart.
Today, of course, we are all perpetually connected to each via available technology. To spend weeks, months or years not speaking to our loved ones would be unthinkable. We just pick up our cell phones or Blackberries and call, text or email each other throughout the day. Frequently, we do so multiple times throughout the day. We have videoconferencing capabilities so that we can see each other while situated on opposite sides of the world.
I remember the first time I ever owned stationery. It was scented and bore images of cute little skunks, along with the phrase “Here’s my five scents worth.” At the time, the cost of mailing a first class letter was five cents, so my grandmother also gave me stamps so that I could mail my letters to her.
When was the last time you sat down and wrote a letter to someone who is important to you? When was the last time you decided to pour out your feelings to someone by picking up a pen or pencil and committing your thoughts to paper in your own handwriting?
I can easily answer those questions: I can’t recall. I literally have no idea when I last wrote an actual message in my own hand expressing anything more significant than “happy birthday” or “my deepest condolences.” I’m sure that I must own some stationery, but without searching for it, I cannot describe it or recollect when I acquired it.
Business correspondence is even much rarer than just a few years ago. In that arena, email is also the primary means by which data is shared. I encourage everyone with whom I transact business to communicate with me via email, even to the point of scanning documents and sending them as .pdf files rather than faxing them. For at least a dozen or so years, my colleagues and I have emailed each other routinely throughout the work day, even though our respective offices are within a few feet of each other.
And my personal relationships are maintained almost exclusively via email. Each year, I send and receive fewer and fewer Christmas and other greeting cards, instead forwarding electronic messages. I have neighbors that I rarely see in person, but we email each other regularly, literally transmitting messages across the street to stay in touch. Hosting a party or other event? Gone, for the most part, are the days of visiting the local stationer to pick out just the right invitations. Instead, you can choose from a variety of software applications to issue the invitation and your guests can simply click to R.S.V.P. There’s no need for your invitees to make a phone call to report whether or not they will be in attendance.
For all the sophisticated technology readily available to us, do we really communicate our innermost thoughts and feelings with each other or have we devolved into simply exchanging bits of meaningless trivia on a constant, unending basis?
And what will be the long-term impact upon our psyches of being constantly bombarded with sounds and images since we are connected to each other all the time? We are living connected lives, but what is the quality of the connections? Will our connectedness ultimately be our undoing?
Click here to read Part Three.
17 Comments
interesting conversation. though email has become a great medium, i miss writing hand written letters.
When I first moved to Italy in the early 90’s email was not as common as it is now and I can remember attending the opening of one of the first Internet Cafes in Rome, so all my correspondence was snail mail. No one had email at the time. I received (and wrote) lettersfrom my Mom, sisters, aunts and friends. Each time there was a letter in the mail my heart would beat faster and I devoured them. They were more precious than anything else, especially during that first year.
My husband and I also wrote and received many letters during our courtship while I was still in Canada. We still have those letters. He keeps the ones that I sent him together with other souveniers of his youth. I keep mine in my lingerie drawer 😉
When my mother was still alive she would always send something snail mail for birthdays and aniversaries. Now, with email, instant messaging and Facebook and blogs I can literally communicate with my sisters everyday – but I miss getting letters!
Hand written letters are always the best manner to receive something..altough we’re in the internet century everyone gives different weight to e-mails and letters.
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Write a mail by hand has art aloof, many people now are dislike to write a mails, because they are busy, so them more opting an email. Think, how with wedding invitation with email? lol. Many arts found in a mail paper that is not email.
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Snail mail! Now that brings back memories of college and when i submitted my name to a sports weekly pen pal’s column. Then there was such a deluge of letters for a while that i was overwhelmed! I suppose those pen pal columns were the social networking sites of yesteryears!
a very engrossing article. thanks for sharing.
Yikes! I haven’t written a letter in forever. I am all about email, MySpace, and text messages. Even my family emails one another!
I don’t know if miss handwritten letters, but I do enjoy the way I am connected now. Does this make sense? It’s late…
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I think I’m alright with email – although I would agree that handwritten makes you feel much better…
hand-written letters just take too long… ya gotta find an envelop, then a stamp, then the address, find time to write on a paper, make sure its nicen neat, and then go n find a mailbox. too much work if ya ask me 😀
although it is nicer to get letters in the mail than in your email box.
~Mike
I don’t remember the last time I have written a hand written letter to anybody. Emails has been a good thing it has made it easy for everybody to be in touch with each other much easily.
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A personal card or letter sent by physical mail is a great way to remind someone that they have been thought of with more consideration than just clicking a button with their mouse. It is a special feeling to receive something like that, and I think it is a great idea of how to write to your children beyond the daily emails.
I think that now i dont have the patience required for snail mail. Having said that, i have kept all the letters that my husband ever wrote (and still writes) to me 🙂
Beautiful post! Enjoyed the read.
I remember when snail mail was the only mail and I also remember my grandmother (rest her soul) give me postage and beautiful stationary so that I would write (you’re giving away your age with the remembrance of 5 cent stamps).
Unfortunately we all needed to be reminded to write and now writing is common place, we all write, albeit short emails but writing nonetheless.
Again, thank you for the beautiful post, I enjoyed it immensely.
Great post! I love snail mail and haven’t stopped writing letters and sending packages even with the emails. Friends actually request that we keep in touch through snail mail instead of email (funny! we email each other more often to say that we mailed something or received something). I’m actually glad that I know a lot of people who are into letter writing and snail mail, because I love it. It gives you a sense of anticipation and longing. At the same time, letter writing is so therapeutic and relaxing. I take time off from the internet, go to a cafe and write. Love it. I’m also penpals (such an oldskool term!) with a few bloggers for years now.
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I think people rarely send letters in the old fashioned way , as now we have email and sms and even communication has become very much cheaper.
The universe is certainly conspiring to send me some messages. I receive a lot of mail in my mail box. Mostly bills and fliers advertising something or the other. I have recently been thinking that it would be indeed be very nice to receive a good old fashioned letter from someone or the other.
In the same musings, I also analyzed the quality of most of my communications and am sorry to say that most of my phone calls achieve nothing worthwhile though they take up a lot of my time.
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Great article, I totally agree with you, Even i am guilty of relying on technology too much. Its always good to open a hand written letter from a loved one, makes it that bit more intimate and personal :o)
Keep up the good work!