Long-Hand vs. Email: The Written Letter Wins

I enjoy writing letters. I believe the written letter to be a far better and more elegant alternative to sending a letter electronically. As we become more technologically advanced it is my belief that we become lazy in our communication prcatices and habits. Although internet and email have made accessibility faster and easier, it has also opened the door for "rushed" communication. As many of us have email access at our fingertips we tend to spend less time making an effort in our communication initiatives and responses via the web. Taking the time to physically sit down, gather our thoughts, and write a letter out long-hand has started to become an obsolete communication practice. However, I still prefer this method far over the faster alternative.

When I sat down to write my letters the first thing I had to do was think about my audience. I knew that some people would be more receptive to getting a letter electronically and others would prefer a long-hand, written letter. I chose to write my mom a letter via email and take the time to write a long-hand letter to my dad. I communicate with my mom through email on a fairly regular basis and talk to my dad regularly on the phone. My mom is not tech savvy but knows her way around a computer as well as most people her age. My father, on the other hand, would need an instruction manual just to turn a computer on. He is also "old school"; he would much prefer a hand written letter to any other form. He believes the written letter is an excellent way to communicate. I think sometimes he almost takes it too far in the sense that he would prefer to write someone a letter opposed to speaking with that person face to face.

After I finished both of my letters I noticed some very important things. I first noticed that both letters essentially said the exact same thing, but they were written in a very different manner. The email letter I sent to my mom was much shorter, more informal, and not organized the way a proper letter should be. It took much longer to write the letter to my dad. I had to use white out in a couple of sections and go to the computer just to spell check a word. This says a lot about our culture in the sense of how we gravitate to the easiest and fastest alternative. I could have just as easily pulled out my dictionary and looked up words the "old fashioned" way. However, I did not. Why would I? Why take three minutes when we could take thirty seconds? Also the fact that the email took a lot less time shows how we use the internet and email to speed up the communication process and save time. We as a culture gravitate to fast letter writing, short sentences, and employ abbreviations to make the writing process faster. I think no matter how formal you may be through email, the tone can never be seen as formal as it does on paper.

When looking at this I thought about what Wood and Smith describe as the ACE model. This model provides a theoretical explanation for gravitation to the internet based on the qualitites and relevance to accessibility, control, and excitement. This model is believed to be grounds to leading to IAD; this is a psychological condition that leads to addictive uses of the internet. I first thought about how sending a letter electronically is not necessarily exciting, but still allows the sender to exercise control and gives him ample accessibility. Writing an email is much more accessible than composing a hand written letter. That much I could relate to and understand the relevance. However, I had a difficult time seeing how this could lead to IAD. The more I thought about it, the more it fit. I thought about how ever since I recently purchased an iphone my internet and email use has skyrocketed. I constantly check my email. I would guess I check it five times more than I did prior to the purchase of an iphone. My girlfriend has seemed to notice this as well. Just this morning she made a begrudging comment to me and said, "Geez, you are always on that thing!" I guess no one is safe from the allure of the internet in today's culture.