When did you last get a personal hand written letter? Do you write any letters or cards and post them? Sadly it seems there is a demise of letter writing. When did this start and why is it happening?
At first there was a mix of bills, business and personal post and that seemed to have some kind of balance. Finding a personal letter or card made you stop and smile. The bills did not seem as bad. Then as more people used emails to communicate personal mail declined. So the number of bills and junk mail increased. Sadly on the negative mail arrived.
Well, now we get fewer bills in our post as everything needs to be online and the bills no longer arrive on our doorstep but in our email inbox or we have to create an account with the company and log in to check. We have to print the bill at home if we want a paper copy. It is after all in our best interest or so the company tells us.
The postman or woman visits less often and the possibility of getting a personal letter is dropping.
Do you enjoy getting personal post?
I know I do. The elation of knowing that a person actually took the time to think of me and sit down to write me a letter, address the envelope and post it in the post box. That is priceless.
Acknowledging that someone made time on their holiday to write and send me a postcard makes me smile. The “wish you were here” does not mean it is done in a way to make you jealous. I like to take the good and positive as there is enough negative out there. I look at it that they thought of me while they were on holidays and thought about how great it would be if I would be sharing the experience with them at that moment. That is what I do when I am on holiday and write postcards to the important people in my life.
So many of us collected postcards from all the destinations around the world. Pinning a new postcard to your wall was a happy moment. The more exotic the better.
The absolute excitement of picking up the letter addressed just to you. The feeling that only two people know about what is in the letter. The person who wrote it and you.
Of course, the person could have shown it to many people. The person I sent a letter to could have shown it to other people. However, for now let’s live in the society of trust.
I can say that never happened to me and I enjoyed living in the trust society.
Penfriends around the world
Getting pen friends from different countries around the world and knowing that you are in contact with other people and different cultures. It is exciting and adventurous. You learned what life was like for other people. A window into a new world. It was kind of bragging rights how many countries you were sending and receiving letters from.
Thinking about how far your post had to travel and the journey they were on to get to the destination.
Collecting the writing paper and pens and making yourself comfortable to start writing. Time just passes and you forget what is going on as you write your story at the moment. Sharing your life with that other person.
When my best friend moved to another country with her family we wrote mini novels to each other. We had to make our own envelopes to fit the large folded letter (manuscript sometimes). That was so much fun. We felt we were still part of each other’s lives.
Yes, it was a time when post did not cost as much as it does now. Post cards were cheaper than letters and honestly almost all of the post arrived. Only very rarely did something go missing. It was amazing sometimes thinking how efficient the postal system was. Unfortunately I find progress is not always positive. Is it because the postal system took pride in what they were doing and deemed it an essential service they were providing?
The sad demise of letter writing
Unfortunately letter writing was forgotten as emails took over. People thought sending emails or messages is quicker and more efficient. But who knows how many people can access your emails or messages. How many emails get lost in the spam folder or in between the junk mail.
A letter is something else though.
If you have watched Downton Abbey and the tiny envelopes the people sent and received. There were a few deliveries a day and before the phone this was a way of communicating with friends and families in the next town and further away.
Invitations were sent out and received and gatherings were arranged. It does feel nostalgic. Those tiny cute envelopes and the letters were just notes but they kept communication going.
The landlines did change that as people could call each other and it was an immediate response. Letter writing still existed though and was encouraged and used by most people.
Unfortunately nowadays it is a struggle to find anyone who wants to write a letter or even considers it at all.
The cost of posting something is now astronomical and for some reason just goes up. The narrative is that fewer people are posting so they have to increase the prices. Is it though?
Letters are not heavy and neither are postcards so why get rid of them?
We live in a world of instant gratification and when someone sends a text or message they expect a reply immediately. An email needs to be replied to quickly.
The excitement of letters was waiting. Anticipation was priceless. When will it arrive and what will it contain? You lived out some of your life through other people living in other parts of the world.
Making the time to write
People seem to have lost the desire to write beautiful letters anymore. People cannot seem to focus or concentrate on things. Vocabulary has been dumbed down.
I remember one person talking about letter writing and the power of words. They read through some letters written by young soldiers in the war, this was the American Civil War when so many young people did not have much formal education. They left school at a young age to go out in the workforce. However these letters the young soldiers wrote home to their families were beautiful. They were eloquent and used descriptive words. Their families understood what they were going through and were part of their lives during the harshest moments. You could imagine how they lived and the fear that they must have had.
What kind of letters could people write nowadays? Would they be able to convey half as much as they did even 50 years ago?
Also amazing is that letters were sent and received from war zones and most of them arrived safely. That is a huge feat in itself and one I admire. Today’s postal service has a lot to measure up to.
The loss of letter writing
I for one mourn the loss of letter writing. It was a really golden age. Yes, I still make cards and write letters and love posting them. Not half as many as before but I do still do it. Nostalgia is a beautiful thing too.
Writing down my thoughts and feelings has always been therapeutic for me. A way to sort out the things in my mind. My brain has to actively process the information in a way that can be understood. The ability to write the words is a form of brain training. Yes I do still love handwriting. Writing forces us to slow down and work through our thoughts. How did I feel about the dinner at the restaurant we were at last night? Did I really like it or felt I had to because it was so expensive. I have to form my opinion on it before writing it down.
When I finish what I have written I love reading it over. Yes, I sometimes leave it a day or two just to get some distance and honestly life has a way of happening. Reading it again is a wonderful way of collecting your thoughts and makes you see things clearly.
Sharing your moments with the important people in your life. Sometimes you felt closer to the people you were writing letters with than those who you meet in person. Thoughts and emotions were expressed on paper and shared with the one other person.
I can only sigh and say I mourn the demise of letter writing.
