Snail Mail vs. E-mail

When I first read about this assignment, I thought it would be so difficult to sit down and write a letter by long-hand! But to my surprise, it was easy, because I found myself reminiscing of old childhood times. I decided to handwrite and send a letter through snail mail to my longtime friend named Krystal. I haven’t seen her in so long, because she moved to Arizona a few years ago. In the past, when we were kids, she has sent me friendly letters through snail mail, as communicating through these means used to be a common hobby of ours. I’m glad that this assignment was given to me, because I haven’t handwritten Krystal in forever! The age of the internet had taken over our mode of communication. Nowadays, we have formed the habit of mostly sharing our lives with each other through photobucket.com , a site that offers free photo and video sharing. Sadly, I have not yet received back a response from Arizona.

I chose to type the other letter through e-mail to my mother. This was planned out to be the faster mode of communication because I talk to her almost every day. Her occupation is a network administrator, so I am almost completely sure that she would receive the message promptly. This is one reason why I decided to send her the e-mail. She checks her mail many times during the day because her entire job depends on it, so keeping Microsoft Outlook open all day long is more effective than continuously opening and closing the program. I received a message back from my mom through e-mail within 2 hours!

My hand-written letter was undeniably longer than the e-mail. I used more get-to-know-you type language such as “How are you doing?” and “I’ve been doing OK.” I did this because I haven’t talked to my friend Krystal for a long time. I had to set up a good friend-to-friend chat before expressing the dialogue for my appreciation of Krystal for influencing my life. In contrast, the e-mail I sent my mom was relatively short and sweet. Since I saw her the day before I typed the letter, I asked her shortly in the beginning of the letter how her day had been, and quickly transitioned into thanking her for everything she has taught me. It sounded like a personalized greeting card from me to her which I should have given to her on Mother’s Day. The language I used with my mom did not flow as freely, and in some places I used phrases instead of full sentences. My hand-written letter was more well-thought out, and it was definitely more well-rounded as well. I also used complete sentences. I didn’t even use a cordial greeting or closing on the e-mail to my mom. I opened the letter with “Hey mom!” and closed it with my name and an emoticon-type of symbol “<3<3<3<3<3 Ashley <3<3<3<3<3.” The reply which I received back from my mom was also short, as it basically only expressed that she was happy with having me as a daughter, and that I should come visit her sometime soon. It did not really tell me anything that I didn’t know already.

On pg 93 in Wood & Smith, they say that “for some people, over-reliance on online interaction can have detrimental effects, little different than if one were suffering from any other behavioral disorder.” I think that over-reliance on anything can and probably will have detrimental effects. I think that the transition from using snail mail to using e-mail has come with its own set of disadvantageous consequences, such as using a different tone in the communication. This assignment in particular brought this to my attention. Although rare users of the internet probably write e-mails that are more similar to snail mail letters than I do, I think those users that are more dependent on the internet for their jobs are more likely to change their tone, length, and quality in an online message than the rare users.