It’s all about convenience. What’s fastest. What’s easiest. What’s the
most efficient means to an end. In this day and age of communication, there is
no doubt, it is the ten second fingertips to a touchscreen text, or an
on-a-whim email. What it is not, is a handwritten letter, complete with a
forty-five cent stamp, appropriate stationary, and an envelope.
Today, communication is
often defined along boundaries of character limits, text-speak, abbreviations,
hashtags and slang. Etiquette is gone, and so are our skills of English
grammar.
Growing up, my mother always
instilled the ‘power of thank you’ belief in our family. This entailed, when
being on the receiving end of a genuine gesture, such as receiving a gift, or having
the opportunity to interview for a job, that you take the time to HANDWRITE a
thank you letter. To many, snail mail is an antiquated system that is out of
touch with the realities of modern day technology. Although it is in some ways
not the most efficient way to communicate, I believe, it is the most effective
in expressing your sincerest emotions. As Virginia Woolf stated, writing letters is “the human art which owes its
origins to the love of friends.” When taking the time to handwrite a letter,
quite simply, you are showing you care enough to thoughtfully lay out your
feelings on paper, not simply type them on a screen and click send.
Handwriting a letter also
allows you to evaluate your writing style and grammar because it is a slower
process. You have the ability to pause and reflect on ”nuance and tone,” as
Woolf stated. Today, many students and young adults don’t bother to check, or outright ignore,
their grammar and spelling when texting or emailing, because it isn’t fast.
They simply want to express their message through the quickest means possible.
As we’ve spoken about in
previous classes and blog submissions, we may be becoming more stupid and lazy
because of technology, because of emailing and texting. Are we losing the
etiquette and writing skills of generations past? Unfortunately, I believe so.
In this fast paced society things are expected to be done quickly and
effectively. There just isn’t always
time to handwrite a letter. However, I believe that doesn’t make the practice obsolete.
In fact, in ways, I believe it makes it even more powerful. Fewer and fewer
people take the time to send letters, when you do, you stand out. You show that
you are genuine and sincere. You show you care.
Azuz, Carl. "Talking texting." CNN. http://schoolsofthought.blogs.cnn.com/2012/03/01/talking-texting/.
David,
ReplyDeleteI really like your comment about the thank you notes. As I was growing up my mother also thought the same thing. I really enjoy sending thank you notes because it makes someone know you truely appreciate their action. I believe a thank you note is even more genuine that just saying "thank you" because it shows you took time out of your day in order to show your appreciation. Good Post!
I definitely agree that handwritten letters, especially thank you notes, as you emphasize, are much more effective in communicating feelings than email is. I especially liked your insight that this may be because when you're handwriting something, it allows time for reflection as your hands go through the motion. The question is, would email have the same capabilities if you consciously sought to slow down the process? The problem with that, however, is that in a way it defeats the purpose of email, to be able to send something quickly and get a faster response than by letter.
ReplyDeleteMy mother also always told me to handwrite my thank you notes. Even though I always said thank you for things I received from others, a thank you note just stressed the fact that I appreciated them helping me out. Sending a written letter just shows that you care because you took the time out of your day instead of typing a quick email.
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