Hand-Written Letters

I read Signed, Sealed, Delivered by Matthew Gasda for this week’s blog. I have to agree--hand written letters have disappeared with the development of electronic mail and texting. Beside the inpersonal birthday cards I routinely get, the last serious hand written letter I received was from my grandma and grandpa for my birthday. I was an in depth, sincere letter for my birthday. I really appreciated it. For some reason, hand written letters seem much more personal and meaningful than stock letters (the same reasoning why hand-made goods or more special, perhaps).

Although the new communication forms are beneficial in several ways, they also have their setbacks. For texting and e-mail, time is a definite plus. Sitting down to hand write a letter takes much more time than does quickly typing out a text or e-mail. Cost, is another advantage of new technology. Texting and online communication are (essentially) free. They require no materials and little (or none) processing fees. Stationary, however, costs significant money, as does stamps to mail the letter.

The nostalgic and memory purposes of hand written letters excels that of online communication. For a scrapbook or any memorabilia, hand written letters are much more ideal. Like I was talking about earlier, letters are much more personal and emotional. Hand-written letters have a much greater impact on the recipient. Although I don’t receive many hand-written letters, I prefer them to online forms of communication and would much rather prefer them.