Is this new "Pen Pal"

[MX]

So the passing of Mark (MREPP) hit me kinda hard.
 
It got me thinking about why.
 
I never met Mark, never talked to him on the phone, but I still feel like I knew him well enough to call him a friend.
 
My question to the CP Family:
 
Has the Internet forum replaced the “Pen Pal” of past generations?
 
In High School I had this girl that I met during a Summer that she came down and visited on of my best friends. For years we traded postcards, she lived in Mexico City, and after a while, we were sharing details that under any other set of circumstances you would only tell someone close to you, like in the same room close, in the middle of the night.
 
I don't know what happened to her, we lost contact at some point, and I regret that.
 
Tim

 

[kann]

I think so.  Same idea, different medium for evolved technology.  I am closer to some online people I've rarely, if ever, met in person than I am with most people I interact with daily.  

 

[billytpage]

I'd say you are 100% correct in the substitution.

 

[punk_lawyer]

Yeah, the world is different now.  I remember getting mail and thinking it was a great thing and a big deal.  Now when I get personal mail I wonder who is bothering with sending me something so slowly.  Facebook, Twitter, Instagram...Cigar Pass.  They all make communication happen without the nuisance of a stamp.

 

[Gern Blansten]

Yeah, the world is different now.  I remember getting mail and thinking it was a great thing and a big deal.  Now when I get personal mail I wonder who is bothering with sending me something so slowly.  Facebook, Twitter, Instagram...Cigar Pass.  They all make communication happen without the nuisance of a stamp.

 
 
Totally agree.  When a trip to the mailbox produced a letter or card it really made my day.  Sad part of all this is the art of handwriting is going the way of the dodo.  Pretty sure they don't teach cursive in school anymore.
 
A handwritten thank you note is still a must!

 

[bfreebern]

Not only this, but what about dating in the digital age?  Most kids I know, are growing up with their noses on their phones and they only communicate via text messages.
 
Will dating be a series of text messages, between them, with neither of them looking up from their phones?

 

[MX]

So, if this is the new Pen Pal, is it better or worse?
 
Does it draw from both sides?
 
I think it is a bit of both.  The ease and speed that we can communicate and share is amazing, and it really is, too me, a wonderful thing.
 
But I also think we sacrifice some of the Social and Personal impact.
 
I can text my wife all day long how much I am in love with her....or I can write it on a small card and place it on her pillow, or in her purse, or lunch box.....
 
just food for thought

T

 

[kann]

I think it is for the better, actually.  Now, those small gestures mean that much more, as you allude to.  
 
*EDIT*  You may have experienced this, too...  Last time my wife was on the road for a few months, yeah, it was easy to send emails back and forth and it was wonderful having that instant connection, but (having free APO-APO mail delivery helped here a lot!) I would try nearly daily to get something hand-written in the mail for her.  It meant a lot to actually be able to have something in her hands she could open and read again and again, or display, or just look at.  Just seeing the actual handwriting of the person that sent the correspondence brings you that much closer to them -- knowing that the person on the other side wrote the actual pen strokes that you are reading.  Especially when you are in situations of geographical separation, that personal touch can mean the world.

 

[oke&coke]

Reminds me of a story my dad told me when he was in nuclear school for the navy. They had just started issuing calculators instead of slide rules. The older guys thought the new class were going to be a bunch of idiots. The new ways of communicating I don't think are good or bad just different. I do believe you lose some of the personal connection, but I would bet a teenager feels differently.