The Rise and Decline of Messaging
Being an adult means that we often check the post only to find junk mail. For the most part, even our bills have made the switch to automatic banking. Communication has gone digital and has packed up it's smaller details into luggage that has unfortunately been lost in transit.
Yes, emoticons still add a little flavour here and there, and GIF's can be sent when we want a certain sentiment to be driven home but even so, we find that reading a persons emotions can be lost in the flurry of text speak and semi-colons with p's, and the sentiment of the message is quickly lost among the numerous work emails and special retail offers.
The truth is, there is so much to 'snail mail' that has been forgotten as we have weaned ourselves from it's beauty.
Email is to me, the grocery bag of gift wrappings. You can see something is in it, but it doesn't have the same mystery and allure of receiving an unexpected, envelop wrapped letter in the mail.
You see, the beauty isn't just in receiving a message from a friend, it's in receiving a little piece of themselves in every aspect from the way they choose to decorate the envelop, to the way their handwriting scrawls itself across the paper, to the subtle hint of their perfume on the pages, and the photographs or handmade trinkets they chose to enclose.
Digital emails and texts are indeed communications, but letters are little surprise gifts that differentiate themselves from the busy bustle of online traffic.
They remind us of simpler times, of notes folded into themselves and passed in class, and of love letters from those seeking to court us. They remind us that written messages were once something tangible you could hold on to until the pages became so crinkled and torn that the frayed edges became a memory of their very own representing the sentimental significance of the message.
Admit it, even now you are reminiscing of times you received something handwritten. Perhaps it was a letter from your pen pal, maybe it was a love letter from your first boyfriend, it could be the handwritten birthday card you receive from your grandmother every year. Think of how receiving these things made you feel. Is that really a tradition you want to see lost to the ages?
This week, I challenge you to make a point to write something special for someone, by hand.
It can be invitations or thank you cards for an event, it can be a letter to a family member or friend, it can even be something as simple as a note in someones lunch box. Personally, I'm partial to mailing people letters heavily laced with jokes and puns but, that's not for everyone.
The truth is, there is so much to 'snail mail' that has been forgotten as we have weaned ourselves from it's beauty.
Email is to me, the grocery bag of gift wrappings. You can see something is in it, but it doesn't have the same mystery and allure of receiving an unexpected, envelop wrapped letter in the mail.
You see, the beauty isn't just in receiving a message from a friend, it's in receiving a little piece of themselves in every aspect from the way they choose to decorate the envelop, to the way their handwriting scrawls itself across the paper, to the subtle hint of their perfume on the pages, and the photographs or handmade trinkets they chose to enclose.
Digital emails and texts are indeed communications, but letters are little surprise gifts that differentiate themselves from the busy bustle of online traffic.
They remind us of simpler times, of notes folded into themselves and passed in class, and of love letters from those seeking to court us. They remind us that written messages were once something tangible you could hold on to until the pages became so crinkled and torn that the frayed edges became a memory of their very own representing the sentimental significance of the message.
Admit it, even now you are reminiscing of times you received something handwritten. Perhaps it was a letter from your pen pal, maybe it was a love letter from your first boyfriend, it could be the handwritten birthday card you receive from your grandmother every year. Think of how receiving these things made you feel. Is that really a tradition you want to see lost to the ages?
This week, I challenge you to make a point to write something special for someone, by hand.
It can be invitations or thank you cards for an event, it can be a letter to a family member or friend, it can even be something as simple as a note in someones lunch box. Personally, I'm partial to mailing people letters heavily laced with jokes and puns but, that's not for everyone.
Have a go of it, who knows maybe you'll start something within your social circle and get a few handwritten notes and letters back!
Cheers!
The Bra Street Rambler
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