Back in the day, we had snail mail. We took the time to sit down and write a letter or jot a note on a card. We wrote an address on an envelope, adhered a postage stamp, and then actually put the letter in a mailbox. Sometimes, we even bothered to drive to our local post office.
We liked snail mail. We normally didn’t complain about the effort it took to mail a letter or a card because we didn’t know any better. No other options existed at that time. A lot of time and effort went into sending mail the old-fashioned way.
We sent wedding invitations and birthday invitations, and those who were genteel and truly civilized sent thank you cards for wedding and birthday gifts. Sometimes, we even sat down and took the time to write letters to friends and family members we didn’t see that often. It was a different world back then.
Then came email and text messaging, and instant communication was all the rage. Nothing has been the same ever since.
Remember Fewer Problems with Communication?
People talk about drunk texting and the problems that can cause. There’s also medicated texting, sick texting, half-asleep texting, and eating with one hand while texting with the other. But even when we text the exact words we meant to say, that grand technological achievement called autocorrect often steps in. There are some dozy examples of miscommunication because of autocorrect.
We rarely had these problems with letters or cards. By the time we finished writing the letter, addressed the envelope, and found a stamp we were normally no longer drunk, no longer sick, and fully awake. Even when sober, healthy, and fully awake, meaning is often lost in translation when texting. We also communicated on the phone, but at least we could hear a person’s voice and figure out by the tone exactly what they meant.
Remember Pen Pals?
One of the more interesting aspects of letter writing involved old-fashioned pen pals. There were different organizations, sometimes through schools, that would hook you up with kids from Thailand or some other remote location. You’d write letters back and forth. I had a pen pal from South Africa, while one of my sisters wrote to a girl in England.
Not all pen pals were on the other side of the globe. Some were on the other side of the hall. To practice penmanship and improve writing skills, some schools would have one third-grade class write to another third-grade class. We wrote about important things like how gross the school lunch was and who was going to be on who’s kickball team at recess after lunch.
Remember When We Had Longer Attention Spans?
Most of us now have the attention span of a gnat. If a message consists of more than 280 characters (the tweet limit), most of us lose interest. It’s a good thing books like Moby Dick or Gone With the Wind aren’t being released today. Nobody would have the ability to read them.
Some research states that humans now have shorter attention spans than goldfish. Our average attention span now supposedly clocks in at 8.25 seconds. No wonder no one writes letters or sends cards anymore. It takes longer than that to find a pen or pencil to write with.
Remember When We Told People Off to Their Faces?
Not long ago, I saw a cartoon with two guys passing each other on the street as they both waved. The conversation went something like this: The first guy said, “Good morning, you treasonous sewer-drinking idiot.” The second one said, “Back at ya, you butt-faced loser!”
Now, I’m not promoting treating our fellow human beings in this manner. But at least people used to have the guts to say things to someone’s face instead of hiding behind a screen. Problems seemed to be solved more quickly this way rather than simmering indefinitely behind a mobile device.
What does this have to do with snail mail you may ask? Back in the day, even when we didn’t have the guts to look someone in the eye, we would at least occasionally write people letters telling them what a creep they were. Letters were also used to make amends and to say we were sorry after telling someone what a creep he was.
Letters gave us the opportunity to gather our thoughts, put our thoughts into words, and even practice our grammar and penmanship while we were at it.
Bring Back Snail Mail!
Yeah, I know, we still have regular mail. It didn’t go anywhere. But the way they’re raising the prices, it won’t be long until you have to take out a small loan to ship a package to Aunt Martha.
Suppose for a moment that we woke up one day and texting and instant messaging no longer existed. Would people return to writing, addressing, and sending cute little notes and personal letters? Would they even know how?
The traditional mail service was established on July 26, 1775. The fact that snail mail is even still in use is pretty amazing. The USPS delivers approximately 47% of the mail in the world. Considering that we’re only 4% of the world’s population, we’re sending and receiving a lot of mail.
In honor of traditional communication, find a piece of paper, an envelope, and a stamp, and actually write something down and send it to someone. Or, better yet, tell someone something to their face (preferably something nice) while looking them directly in the eye!
That’s pretty much how we all lived… back in the day.
Back in the Day... 
Leave a comment