Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Future of Letter Writing?

My "Reader's Digest" magazine came yesterday, and on page 25 was a list of "8 Thinks Being Killed by the Internet." The list was credited to Matthew Moore of the London Daily Telegraph.

I'm sure you're not surprised to know that "Letter writing" was on the list. I looked up Mr. Moore's article in the Daily Telegraph, and the original is quite a bit longer. "50 things that are being killed by the Internet" (FYI: I had to use Firefox to access the article; my other browsers wouldn't show the article) includes a variety of formerly common activities and items, such as "Listening to an album all the way through" and "Photo albums and slide shows."

Mr. Moore's full comment on letter writing says:
12) Letter writing/pen pals
Email is quicker, cheaper and more convenient; receiving a handwritten letter from a friend has become a rare, even nostalgic, pleasure. As a result, formal valedictions like "Yours faithfully" are being replaced by "Best" and "Thanks".
 The comments left by readers vary, with some being saddened by the loss of letter writing, and others happy to see it go. One commenter wrote: "an email is much less personal then a hand written letter dropped in the corner mailbox." And another posted this comment:
I wish people wrote more letters - I'm 24 and know that the small pile of letters I have received isn't likely to grow by much. And what are historical records going to consist of in the future?
 I wanted to leave a comment myself, but I couldn't get the system to work.

I don't know what the future of letter writing is. I suppose we'll just have to wait and see, while we keep writing letters.

3 comments:

Stephanie said...

I'm curious about why people are happy to see letter writing go. Were there any specific reasons? Since I'm trying to help letter writing remain in the future I want to know the arguments of the opposing side in this debate... ;)

phonelady said...

I will never give up letter writing . i love my pen pals and I am pretty sure that they love me wah !!!so I will never give up . thanks for sharing and posting .

Bernard said...

I read all fifty only this morning.
Being in England it's easy to read the Telegraph every day.
Of course letter writing in the good old fashioned way, requires postmen to deliver them....Our are all on strike at the moment!!!!
Oh, well, back to the e-mail.

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