If, like me, grew up in the 90s or earlier, you will probably have handwritten a letter or two in your time. When the digital age dawned and email became the thing, handwritten or even typed letters posted through the mail dwindled drastically.
But I want to talk about letters today. Physical letters and their importance now more than ever.
Standing Up
Throughout most of my life, I have tried to stand up for what I believe in. Whether that was conservationism, environmentalism or even just basic human rights. Due to this, I support a number of charities and follow a lot of accounts on social media that cover these topics, sharing important information to spread awareness.
In my youth, I joined many a letter-writing campaign. These were often raised by charities such as Amnesty International who would shine the light on people in other countries who’d been imprisoned or even killed for simply speaking out against corruption or abuse.
In fact, 15th November was actually Day of the Imprisoned Writer Day, because writers and journalists are often mistreated and imprisoned for sharing horrors from around the world.
Digital Age
We are now deep into the digital age with emails, chats, messenger apps and social media. Information is shared in secs. A share, a like, a comment, a repost and boom! We’ve sent the word out – “look at this [insert whatever horror/travesty/cruelty/abuse it is]” and it circles the world… well, at least the parts the algorithm chooses to share it with.
And that’s one of the problems.
We don’t have the same voice we used to. In some ways, we are louder than we’ve ever been with the possibility of reaching so many more people from all across the world, but in other ways, we are silenced because the platforms make the decisions on what is shared and what isn’t. Hell, we barely see posts from those we CHOOSE TO FOLLOW these days.
Now, I won’t go into the devastation that is AI and the videos that are constantly made using AI that fake situations and how it’s becoming harder to believe what we see online.
What’s worse, is that often the situations are real, such as animal abuse or human rights abuse, but when people make AI videos about these topics, creating fake footage, even to get the word out – the credibility in the situations diminishes.
By the way, a lot of this AI crap has been designed exactly with this in mind. There are tech people who create AI like this and the millionnaires and billionnaires that fund it aren’t giving us AI from the goodness of their hearts, to help people. If you flood an already broken system with fakes, it gets real hard, real fast to tell what’s truth – so everyone sees it as fiction, all the time…
Okay, I’m tangenting off into another AI rant, let’s get back on track.
Another problem is, how powerful is an email? Or a petition signature? Now, I’m not saying to NOT do these things – sign petitions (on legitimate sites) and yes, if you can, send those emails demanding transparency, or pushing back against cruelty or abuses or mis-uses of power.
But let’s not pretend that they have the same impact as a letter.
Hard To Ignore
Simply put, emails can be ignored. Posts online can be ignored. It’s easy enough to set a rule that sends all emails with a certain subject line or even a set of words to go straight into your trash. And many of these “email campaigns” use a basic template that people just slap their name on.
You think that dodgy CEO is seeing those emails? Your think their personal assistance is?
Do you know what isn’t easy to ignore? Letters.
Thousands of letters falling through the letterbox, clogging up the mailbox, being brought in sacks and deposited right on the floor.
That is what gave letter writing campaigns so much power. Thousands upon thousands of physical, tangible letters flooding embassies and governments and businesses, calling out corruption and abuse and destructive measures.
I get it. We moved to email because it was cheaper – no paper, no envelopes, no stamps (especially not international postage that could become expensive). Far easier to just type up a quick email (or use a template given to you by a charity) and press send.
But it’s not as impactful.
Think of it on a more personal level.
A personal letter from a friend or loved one arrives in the post, handwritten (or typed, some of us have bad handwriting!) and you take a few minutes from your day, to read through their words.
People used to send love letters through the mail. The recipients would then keep them, in a memory box to be read over, perhaps at a later time to reminisce.
Who’s doing that with email? Maybe you’re saving them (probably on OneDrive, whether you want to or not) and maybe even reading them over?
Are people sending love letters? Sharing fun stories? Perhaps. But does it have the same effect as receiving one through the mail?
Digital cards became all the rage in the 2000s. But the trend didn’t land as hard as other digital trends. People still like sending real Christmas cards and Birthday cards. Because there’s something nice about popping them on your mantlepiece or hanging them on the wall.
I receive Christmas cards with a mini letter written on the inside front of the card. Friends sharing their news. They could text me or email. But they don’t, they add it to the tangible card I get to open.
The Point?
What is the point of this blog post? I’m not sure.
I’m not here to tell you all to suddenly start sending physical letters to your friends and family (though if you want, that would be cool and do let me know in the comments if you decide to do that).
It’s more about sharing my thoughts on how letters can be powerful. How they have the impact to make changes. They are pieces we can keep as memories. They are a way of connecting that goes deeper than a quick email.
I used to love writing letters or notecards to my friends. I’d add in pictures I’d drawn or small scenes I’d written. Then a week or so later, I’d get one back. Maybe with a burnt CD or some stickers and several pages about what they had been doing.
I still have a lot of my old letters from friends. People I’ve lost touch with. People who I’ve lost. They live, bundled in a growing memory box. I don’t do that email.
~ ~ ~
What are your thoughts on physical letters? Did you used to write and send them? Have you done so recently or have you never done it, ever? I’d love to hear from you. – yes, on this digital platform 😀
Thanks for reading
Ari
Source: Images from Canva
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Yes, yes, yes! A great post Ari with many salient points. I still send Christmas cards despite the cost of postage and many will have messages written inside. It is tiring and probably not appreciated by some people but I continue to do it. And birthday cards to close friends and family. And letters to friends.
My handwriting has always been illegible – even to me, sometimes. But I have begun jotting down first thoughts for verses or stories in a notebook in the evenings for tightening up on the laptop next day.
Although I can’t always read what I’ve written next day.
lol, I know that feeling. When I write slowly, carefully, my handwriting is readable. But the moment I speed up, such as scribbling down a novel note idea and my writing becames terrible!
Writing by hand is so good for us though, good for the brain!
You make many valid points here Ari! The art of letter writing is lost anymore. I used to have writer’s bumps on my right-hand index and middle finger from holding a pen and writing so much in my school years and as a waitress during my college days and at work thereafter. There was no voicemail – we wrote telephone messages, a lot of writing – everything is different.
I worked remotely from 2011 until retiring in 2024 and never wrote a single message to my boss as I never went on site after I was laid off – all messages were done through e-mail. If urgent, I’d type/print the message then he’d hear the xerox machine turn on and get either the message or work I printed – he was/is a sole practitioner in a small office.
When we moved to the U.S., I missed my grandmother as did my Mom, so we each wrote to her a few times a month and called her every Wednesday night. I had several pen pals through the years as a teenager or pre-teen and as an adult during Operation Desert Storm, one of my coworkers brought in a list of service personnel that she got from her church and her pastor asked if people would write them as they had no families or small families and this would buoy their spirits. We each took on three servicemen – mine were all men. I’ll bet that even in the digital age teachers don’t encourage their students to find teachers abroad who might have students that would be willing to exchange letters … it would not only be fun, but educational.
lol oh yes, the bumps and grooves on the side of the finger from holding the pen! I had them throughout college since we had to handwrite our papers.
And while we did have computers when I entered the work force we still have so much paper and hand written notes and documents.
So many letters – to loved ones, to those in the armed forces, to neighbours and friends who move away. Things that may have been kept in a wallet or a memory box.
Sad we have moved away from all this.
Yes, those bumps and grooves from using the pen! We just dated ourselves Ari, although I’m older than you and I entered the workforce on an IBM Selectric typerwriter and never used a computer until the early 90s. The art of letter writing should not be forgotten. I shudder when I hear that kids don’t know how to write their name in cursive – no need to sign checks, so no need to sign your name!
Hey Ari! Wonderful article. I agree that letters and handwritten messages have a bigger and more personal impact. I remember reading that Congressional offices get a ton of emails, and legislative staff often send generic responses to them (even personalized emails). I know I’ve gotten generic responses that barely address the points that I made. I’m sure handwritten letters would have a bigger impact.
I also think that, on a personal level, a handwritten note has a huge impact. Part of it is because they’re getting rarer. But, to me, it feels much more personal. I LOVE getting physical Christmas cards/cards in print. It feels more special to me, and it brings me a lot of joy. I also think it brings others joy too. I have two examples of this:
I’ve known a librarian friend for a couple years. She told me her birthday was coming up. I brought her a book and a card (a physical card). She was SO happy :). A couple weeks later (since we didn’t see each other for some time), she brought me a card that had a Mandala that she colored in :). She also handwrote a thank you note inside. It brought me a lot of joy. I’ve kept her card on my desk :).
I wrote a card for a different friend. She’s always been SO nice to me. Her kindness has brightened some of my most stressful days. I wrote a thank you card for her and she was really happy to get it. 🙂 Now, I want to write more cards for friends 🙂
Sorry for the long comment. Your post really resonated with me and I love it.
Yes, that is it exactly. So easy to create a canned response and have it autosend to emails that come in. There is less impact on things that matter. Maybe that is why more and more things are being ignored by governments and companies.
Just think there will be whole generations who have no handwritten letters to keep as mementos.
As one of my friends made a mention in another comment; regarding historians – who often dealt with journals, letters, newspapers for details of what happened. Now there is so much online and so much of it is false or misconstrued.
More personal accounts of situations are not around because it’s a snapped photo or a video on a phone – probably eventually deleted or lost.
That gift you got your friend is something she definitely will remember. A physical card or letter is something that is easier to treasure than a quick text or email.
It is sad we are moving so far away from such things.
Hi Ari! I too think that’s why things get ignored. They get inundated by messages and do not have time to respond to them. A lot of messages are pre-populated and not personal. So, I think they just ignore or use a very generic message.
“Just think there will be whole generations who have no handwritten letters to keep as mementos.” That’s true. It saddens me :(. We should definitely keep the handwritten letters that we get and cherish them.
That worries me too… Historians will look back and see a ton of disinformation and misinformation. And I am sure they will struggle with determining what the truth is. There will be a lot of distortions and issues with history books about things today.
You’re right…digital photos and other digital items can be easily lost. Physical items are more invaluable today.
Great point 🙂 Physical cards and letters are definitely more memorable 🙂 It was such a joy to see her joy too 🙂 It breaks my heart that we’re moving away from such things…but I guess what we can do is continue sending them. And their impact (physical letters/cards) will even bigger since they’re getting rarer.
A great article, Ari. I used to love having penpals when I was younger. And I’m with you in the AI, I just don’t know what to believe online anymore.
The characters in the book I’m publishing next year keep in touch via letters, which I think is old fashioned and romantic!
Thanks for reading, Suzanne. Yeah, penpals were great. Was fun to have that connection that took a little longer than an immediate text or email – it’s definitely lost its charm due to tech.
Urgh, AI is so terrible and each new version is getting “better” and making it so no one can tell. They hide watermarks and some have gotten smoother and smoother. Even some of the experts who are starting to struggle.
All it does it remove all enjoyment because if we can’t tell if something is AI, we’ll just end up not liking, following or watching. I’m already refusing to follow a lot of new accounts if I can’t tell.
Aww I love that your characters are going to be letter writing, maybe it will spark the desire in your readers to do that too 😀
I know exactly what you mean. Writing a physical letter tells the recipient “I cared enough to take the time and use pen, paper, a stamp”. It is the difference between leaving a comment and just tapping Like. I miss letters. I kept most of my letters and even have the notes I passed in class because text just doesn’t do it for me.
What I think about is the future. I was trained as an historian and I loved looking at primary source material that contained private letters. What are future generations going to read about us? A tweet? An insta-post? I lament a lot of things that seem to be going the way of the Dodo, but this one is most poignant. It means thoughtfulness and care. We need more of that these days. Then maybe we wouldn’t need letter writing campaigns.
Yes! Exactly, it does say that. Also, it forces us to communicate more slowly, more carefully, to choose our words.
It’s lovely that you kept your letters.
I once wrote in to a magazine, when I was a teenager instead of putting the letter into the Letters section, they added it and my address o.O to the Friends section.
I ended up getting letters from all around the world sharing their thoughts on my comments and asking to be penpals. I kept a lot of them.
Wow, I never thought of that – the history of people was written in journals and letters. We have lost so much. Even journalling, so many people do it online or on Word docs rather than in tangible books.
We will lose so much.