[Source: timeanddate.com]
Letter writing requires extensive thought about the message that a person wants to send. Unlike other forms of communication, letter writing allows people more time to read over the message to check if they are content with what they have written before sending it. This way, it prevents mistakes that are inevitably made when a person is forced to come up with a message in a short interval of time. Clarity is crucial in communication, and letter writing may be a better option for people who need more time to formulate the best fitting message.
Letter writing is far more personal and memorable to both the sender and the receiver than any other type of communication. Compared to receiving and sending text messages, which are often typed and sent in a matter of seconds, a heartfelt handwritten letter holds more emotional value for the person receiving it. A letter symbolizes both the sincerity and effort of the sender. Therefore, a person would not send another person a handwritten letter if he or she did not consider the recipient important.
In another sense, the content of messages shared through a phone conversation is completely different from the content in letters. Usually, the information shared in a letter is more significant because the sender is limited to the space of the letter to write about what truly counts.
Letter writing is clearly an art that must be preserved; however, it does not change the fact that the number of letters mailed each year is decreasing alarmingly, affecting many postal services and the forms of communication between people.
Naomi Yang, a student at Cresskill High School, comments, “I’m not a person that detests technology, but it does make us miss out on other things, which includes handwriting letters. Few people actually take the time to sit down and write to people nowadays because they don’t realize that all those letters and cards are special memories that you can take out and read every so often.”
Although letter writing may be branded as a “lost art” due to the diminishing number of those that take time to write letters, handwritten letters still serve as a preservation of memory and a meaningful way of communication.
