Digital to Physical

I originally posted this love note to letter writing on my personal blog back in September. Donovan thought I should share this post with the LWA community. I hope you agree. - Kathy

I hear a lot of different comments when someone finds out I co-run The Letter Writers Alliance. One of the ones I never really understand is "So you must really hate email!" I suppose I get the reaction - because I am promoting an analog way of communication, I must want to abolish the digital version that is slowly dragging it to its grave, right? Yeah, not really.

Firstly, I don't consider letter writing a "dying art." It is very much alive, but it is gaining popularity in a different way than what it used to be. There is a tool for every job, and that is exactly how I feel about email, Twitter, and letters. They all have their place in our daily lives, Donovan and I are just trying to make letters more of an everyday occurrence.

There is no denying that letters are the most intimate form of long-distance correspondence we have available, but it must also live side by side with our digital lives. A lot of my mail art ideas come from things I see online, free downloads I find, or from a museum's digital archives. I gather what I see in the digital and turn it into a physical communication. That is how letter writing will survive now. No matter how easy technology makes our lives, you can never take away our desire to create something tangible and our want to share that with someone we admire.

Comments

[Z]

Well, said! I find the more times goes on the more interest in older formats of doing things come into availability: phonographs, typewriters, sewing and craft items, and brand new, too. And I don't know as I've ever received less email, than perhaps days I remember it not existing. Perhaps the "new-toy" element to online has finally drifted into using it as a tool to do the physical projects we enjoy at last. I certainly hope so!

[Limner]

I could just hug you so hard for saying what you did. I thank you for every word. People will write letters no matter what. Everything has a cycle. I cannot imagine my life without a fountain pen. Ball points did not kill them off. E-mail won't kill off the post office. Millions of people do not send e-mail or own computers. Making our mark is human. I leave mine on paper, online, with pens, pencils, ink, paint, pastels . . .

[Pamela]

Totally agree, Kathy -- and well said.

[oliviarrow]

I was just thinking about this with the lettermo challenge in Feb, since I was going online to update about the mail I sent out. It seemed strange and funny. But I also noticed that in my letters I would tell the recipient about websites and things to look up online. Guess it's because they're both part of daily life. I hope they can live in harmony for a long time!