Is an e-mail as valuable as a hand-written letter?
The thought of someone picking up an ink pen, writing their thoughts onto paper by hand, and taking the time to mail it through the post implies that, whatever it is they have to say, they mean it.
On the Internet, through text-messaging and e-mails or, heck, Twitter, that sense just doesn’t seem to be there. Maybe it’s the simplicity of the process, or the attention-seeking nature of the online social network.
The distance, perhaps — as you read a letter, you’re holding a piece of paper that the sender also had contact with, forming a kind of spaceless bond, while as you read an e-mail, you’re simply looking at characters on a screen, data careening through a vast expanse of cable and reproduced without any sense of connection to the person who clicked “send”.
Now, a recent survey has found that, among 50-year-olds, fewer are hand-writing letters.
Half, in fact.
Keep in mind that this is among 50-year-olds. You can assume that, among younger demographics, the number of individuals who write letters by hand declines greatly.
This trend doesn’t necessarily affect our perception of the value of hand-written letters, however (emphasis added):
The survey questioned more than 11,000 over-50s. It found that while 47 per cent of 50-year-olds and 72 per cent of 70-year-olds wrote letters by hand, only 21 per cent of respondents did not value a handwritten postal letter more than a typed letter or email. – Art of letter writing ‘dying out among over-50s’ as people use email and texts
What does this mean? It means that, even though more and more people are forsaking the hand-written letter in favor of more easily-accessible mediums such as e-mail, we’d still be pretty darn excited to receive a letter in the mailbox.
2 Responses to Letter writing is on the decline
timethief
April 23rd, 2009 at 3:11 PM
Hello there,
Thanks for proving me an opportunity to resply to your posts. I’m aware of the study that you point to and I’m not crying the blues about the switch from letters to email at all.
I’m in my 50’s and I no longer write letters in long hand. I do not prefer receiving snail mail letters to email – quite the opposite. I prefer to get the family and friend news quickly and electronically.
I have spent a lifetime writing long hand in every job I have had (paralegal and librarian). In addition, I’m an artist and calligrapher too, so I have over-used my hands, fingers and wrists which are impinging on developing carpal tunnel syndrome. Thank goodness there are such things as computers and keyboards and email.
Rob
April 23rd, 2009 at 3:40 PM
That’s a great point, timethief. The speed and accessibility of the Internet can save us the physical pain of writing long-hand (then again, we now have things like computer vision syndrome to worry about
).
I think the main reason I’d put more value into receiving a letter in the mail is because it is so rare. You don’t expect to open your mail and find a piece of wide-ruled paper with a handwritten message on it.
But, like you said, e-mail is just more practical.