Email vs Snail Mail
Long ago, I used to have a lot of penfriends from all around the world. I'd receive 70-80 letters weekly and answered them all. But since I connected to the Internet in 2000, emailing has been a much faster way to keep in touch with friends and family or make new friends. So penfriends became epals and very often I'd get a reply within minutes. I recall having exchanged 30 emails in one day with an epal from the UK. Email is also cheap since it allows you to send long documents immediately and with hardly any cost.
However, snail mail is much more personal and private. There is a unique charm in the handwriting, the paper, the envelope, the stamps. A letter is something you can touch, file away and keep as a souvenir. It is also something you can smell! I still remember that beautiful, perfumed fancy letter paper I once used. The ride to the letter box or the post office used to be a pleasure. And then I'd counted the days till I got a reply.
What's more, unlike email, handwritten letters are safer as they can't be hacked and they don't get viruses while it is practically impossible to forward them to hundreds or thousands of people instantly! Newsletters I've never subscribed to are frustrating as they invade my inbox daily! Not even gmail can block them! Traditional mail is certainly more reliable as far as business companies are concerned. While email can easily be scanned and deleted, snail mail provides you with a hard copy of your letter that you can hold in your hands and read. Unless you lose the hard copy, no one can ...delete it – not even by mistake!
While technology opened up new ways of instant communication, it has also encouraged spam – an unknown word for handwritten letters. I still enjoy writing letters and sending handwritten cards to friends and family. Some things are best left untyped. To me, email will never beat a handwritten letter or card
However, snail mail is much more personal and private. There is a unique charm in the handwriting, the paper, the envelope, the stamps. A letter is something you can touch, file away and keep as a souvenir. It is also something you can smell! I still remember that beautiful, perfumed fancy letter paper I once used. The ride to the letter box or the post office used to be a pleasure. And then I'd counted the days till I got a reply.
What's more, unlike email, handwritten letters are safer as they can't be hacked and they don't get viruses while it is practically impossible to forward them to hundreds or thousands of people instantly! Newsletters I've never subscribed to are frustrating as they invade my inbox daily! Not even gmail can block them! Traditional mail is certainly more reliable as far as business companies are concerned. While email can easily be scanned and deleted, snail mail provides you with a hard copy of your letter that you can hold in your hands and read. Unless you lose the hard copy, no one can ...delete it – not even by mistake!
While technology opened up new ways of instant communication, it has also encouraged spam – an unknown word for handwritten letters. I still enjoy writing letters and sending handwritten cards to friends and family. Some things are best left untyped. To me, email will never beat a handwritten letter or card
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