So many things today are instant. I can watch anything, listen to anything, even buy anything I want right now from my phone. I remember when I had dial-up just nine years ago, and it would take a solid five minutes to load a very bad quality video, and I was completely chill with that. Now I think, "Wtf?" whenever my 1080p quality Bojack Horseman doesn't come up on my TV in less than five seconds. With the high standards of today's services revolving around instant gratification, we've strayed from things that take longer than needed. We think of such things as outdated, inefficient and simply inconvenient. Why would I ever write somebody a letter when I can Skype them?
We've been raised in an era of efficiency and, as a result, have never felt the intention and art of letter writing.
Some of our best conversations have been on screens, witnessed and enjoyed for a moment only to be forgotten when bombarded with dozens of other 13-word text bubbles. Our receipt of love and attention from loved ones in text form is typed by people who only think about the receiver and its message for just a second. Even social networks, places where we all meet to share everything about ourselves and our lives, have reduced what we have to say to 140 characters or less in the name of efficiency.
We're hindered in what we can communicate when texting. "You can't text too much without a response or it will seem desperate." "You can't put that word in all caps or that'll seem too intense." "You better not mess up the first text or else it's all over." In writing letters, there are little to no rules. They're the venue of conversation everyone's forgotten, where you can pour out your feelings to a loved one and not come off as desperate or just plain weird.
When receiving a letter, there's something about the sender's handwriting that gives it a backstory and origin. There's something about the doodles in the margins that give it personality and authenticity. There's something about knowing that the sender was thinking about the recipient of the letter and the meaning of the letter the entire time they wrote it that makes you not give a damn that it took 72 hours for you to get it. You can feel the intention and care of a letter right when you open the envelope.
I'm not saying we should only send letters and make smoke signals to communicate with our friends from now on. In fact, you probably shouldn't send a letter to just anyone. See, such purpose and time spent to simply send a message to someone is so special, it feels otherworldly today. What I'm saying is, if you really want to communicate that you love someone, whether it's your parents, siblings, friends or lovers, you should write them a letter; they'll get the message (in about five days or so).
