This assignment was pretty interesting since I honestly can’t remember the last time I sent a long-hand letter via snail mail. I send credit card payments via the Internet, and other messages through my school accounts and MySpace. With fast responses and no cost (snail mail requires 41 cent stamps!); it seems the Internet has become the prime source for communicating over snail mail.
I decided to write to my sister, my twin sister Courtney who lives in Eugene, and my half sister, Chalase, who is 33 and lives in Minnesota. Both of my sisters are very computer literate and does much of their communicating online, so I thought it would be interesting to see the differences in responses. I sent the long hand letter to my twin sister in Eugene because although she uses the Internet everyday, she doesn’t always check her MySpace or Hotmail account daily, and I do not have a Facebook account like she does. On the other hand, my half sister has told me before she checks her e-mail several times everyday and if very active with sending e-mail jokes, etc. to her friends and family. I sent her a message via e-mail with my Hotmail account telling her thanks and even updating her on pictures of my puppy.
The differences within the letters didn’t vary much in length, but the style of language did vary. On my e-mail, I used more exclamation points and used a smiley icons. The e-mail also had a background color light blue and the text was like a dark olive green and the text was Arial. My long-hand letter had a smiley face, although it was hand drawn. I have loopy handwriting and the paper was actually stationary paper I found in a kitchen counter drawer. I like to personalize my messages, and although the style of the letters was different, the same principles were used for both my e-mail and letter.
The length of time it took for my response different greatly. My half sister responded to me the next morning to my e-mail, whereas my twin sister’s experience in receiving the hand written letter was amusing. The amusing part was that my twin sister and her roommates do not check their mailbox often. As quoted by my sister “We probably only check our mailbox about once a week.” I had to tell my sister to check her mail everyday this week because a letter is coming her way. I visited my sister in Eugene this weekend so when my sister checked her mail yesterday, Saturday, sure enough the letter was there. She thought the letter was sweet but when I asked her if she was going to reply, she told me no and that was silly. I had explained to her the purpose of the long-hand letter versus an e-mail and she understood completely. I think the reason she felt it was silly to respond is because the Internet is so conveniently available.
I think the outcome of the two styles of communication have definitely been influenced by our culture. The American culture as I have grown to be around has taken uphill strides with technology, creating gadgets and Internet resources, which in my opinion, has dominated over traditional ways of communicating such as using paper and pen. There are still many people out there who chose long-hand letters over e-mails. Those who are not exactly computer/Internet savvy such as my mom, use long-hand for communicating such as thank you letter or invitations.
I think that as our culture advances with ways of communicating, our ability to take part in tradition ink and paper writing with envelopes and stamps becomes pushed to the side. I also view advances such as text messaging and MySpace has helped create a way to keep in touch with our friends on a regular bases. I asked my mom about her opinion on letters via snail mail. She told me when she was younger that, “You would write letters to anyone you wanted to keep in touch with. There was no e-mailing going on.”
Another thought: At Wikipedia, snail mail is referred as penpalling, in which the name comes from the snail’s slow speed and from the use of postal services. Although I am not sure of this, but before the Internet, was this form of communication even called “snail mail?” I mean, there was nothing for snail mail to be compared to because e-mail was not invented yet. But then again, communicating via telephone would be faster. But still, it is interesting to see the differences of the two communication styles.
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5 comments:
Interesting that you brought up the cost of mailing a letter. I didn’t even think about that because I still send all of my credit card and monthly payments through the mail. For someone who never sends letters through the mail it was probably an inconvenience to have to go purchase stamps. I like how you mentioned that your style of writing was about the same but the way you showed your feelings was difficult when written out. It is easier to show someone your feelings through emails because you can use the emotional icons and possible draw something out. When writing a letter drawings and smiley faces take up a lot of space and take more time. The only difference between my letters was the length of time it took me to write them. I wrote my email in about 5 minutes and received an email back that evening. It took me about 30 minutes to write out my letter and then two days for arrival and I never got anything back. This exercise was fun!
Katy Hersh’s response…
You bring up some very interesting points in your blog this week Kayla, good job. That’s funny that using pen and paper to write someone a letter is referred to as pen-palling. Just the other day I was talking to my grandma, who is eighty-four years old, and she has been writing letters to her pen pal in Australia for sixty-five years now. Every month they send a letter to each other. I find that fascinating that she would write letters to someone for so long, even when technology allows them to communicate easier, she still relies on pen and paper.
The internet has greatly influenced our communication styles in our culture. We are a culture based upon instant gratification. We like results, answers, replies, etc. immediately and that is one reason the internet is such a huge hit because you can get immediate responses.
Our society has changed a lot in the time since computers have been introduced. No there was no snail mail by name and before that was the pony express. People waited months for a reply with it. Then the postal service took maybe a week and finally got updated to two or three days with the option of over-night mail for a price. However, the internet beats them all. Yes, we could end up waiting a week for someone to actually read their email but the timing seems different. It seems senseless to use anything but the internet for communication. We have changed in our expectations. This seems the norm any more. We’ve almost forgotten the skills of writing. I’ll bet that the postal service is seeing and will see a huge decline in their mail service needs as the current generation matures to adults and abandons that form of communication. Hopefully they won’t abandon the social custom of appreciation.
I enjoyed the response that your sister gave of why send a letter back? It is silly. That is so typical when the norm is fast and efficient internet mail. I wonder what we'll use for communication 50 years from now? Maybe thought processes? Now that would be fast for some people.
You’re right that new gadgets and internet resources are dominating the traditional methods of communication. With the efficiency and easiness of email and other forms of online communication, the traditional methods are becoming obsolete. When we are our parents’ age, will email be regarded as the snail mail of the day? I can’t see it becoming a slow means of communication, but it may be considered a traditional method that takes a backseat to something better.
I agree the cost of sending a letter compared to email is for some instances cost prohibative. Along with time, if you send it via the mail(USPS) the time adds to the delema of the message and how it becomes communicated. I have had two recent instances where paying postage became much more expensive. One was sending in tax returns and getting them back because they needed 17cents more postage. Then sending in a Lab for another class and it needed more postage making sending it from home 82cents. Just an hassle if you ask me.
I see how once people become connected to the internet the use of snail mail all most ends, outside of bills that can't be paid online.
But the one thing I have to admit is that little rush you get when you go to your postal mail box and there it stuff there. When I was a kid it ment somthing to get mail and as an adult it is still fun to open the box and see something there, even though it is usually bills.
Casey
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