does anyone write old fashioned letters anymore?

Question

Or is email the way it is?
(I like getting letters!)

Answer 1

I do! I think that letter-writing is a dying art. Until about 1981, I had every letter I had ever received--even going back to my childhood. After attending a party or dinner, it is appropriate to send a "thank you" note. If someone allows you to stay at their house for a visit or vacation, an actual letter is more appropriate. To include photos or send a gift as a memento is even better.

Email is only appropriate for certain things. For instance, it is not adequate to offer condolences. It does offer an immediacy not available in a letter, but they are extremely impersonal.

I had a grandmother who was born in 1900 AND was a former one-room schoolteacher. (In fact, I still have her schoolbell.) Naturally, she was a proponent of all those "womanly arts" like letter-writing, crocheting, knitting, making lace, quilting, canning, freezing, etc. Because she and my grandfather lived in Indiana and my sister, parents and I lived in New York, letter-writing was a must. Now that my grandparents are both long gone, finding those childhood letters are like finding gold. They are real treasures to me.


This is a wonderful question, and thank you for posing it.

Answer 2

I enjoy both. I have pen-pals new and old, and enjoy email as well. Even in my emails I try to avoid shortening our language to OMG,BRB, etc. I feel the largest contributor to less and less people writing letters is that in most families now both parents work full time, the children have after school activities and sports, and time is a major factor in their lives. More and more people take advantage of the speed and ease of using email. Like you though, I like to get letters and know that the person I receive it from thinks enough about me to take a break from their busy day to write me.

Answer 3

My 85 year old mother does to her friends....but doubt you would want to get any of them. I think most of us rarely use snail mail letters anymore as we like the instant transmission and answers back. I do like to write letter like emails, though, as I feel it is an important way to communicate and stay close with friends.
My girlfriend several states away and I converse back and forth 3 or 4 times a day.

Answer 4

I always send thank you cards but I never was much of a letter writer before email and honestly I don't even like doing email correspondence either. I usually just pick up the phone.

Answer 5

I do! My boyfriend and I are in a long-distance relationship, and we write letters often. It just feels so much better than emailing!
Opening a letter is so exciting, and keeping them in a stack has an old-fashioned pleasure to it. :)

Answer 6

Yes but not so often. When I was at school/college I had the time to write regularly to pen friends in Germany, Tunisia and Scotland but now we have all grown up and got on with things like getting jobs, getting married, having kids, etc, it is hard to find the time. I still write occassionally but use email more. It's cheaper and more convenient!

Answer 7

I still write lots of letters to my Aunt in Germany, but the post office is so sloppy and loses them

Answer 8

I write letters! My Grandma doesn't have the net nor a computer and she is lonely living in FL all by herself, so we correspond back and forth. I occasionally write my dad and did with my mom until she moved in with me.....I love getting letters too!!!!

Answer 9

i did not write letters before email so i definitely don't now. i think I have written five letters in my hole life . I send thank you cards on occasion.

Answer 10

Sadly, email is the thing today. When I try to just leave a note on someones' door, I find it very hard to write legibly!