Letter writing, here is your new hobby!

In United States letter sending has significantly declined from 2007 to 2013.  From 212 billion to 158 billion a 21 percent decrease. This is how letter writing transformed from a necessity into a leisurely pastime.

These days sending letters has become mainly a business or government activity. Technological advancements gave people a quicker way to communicate for everything, including personal matters.

“It is a much more personal way of communicating with people. It is better to get something that is hand written and has a lot more thought put into it,” said Garrett Moore, Second year student at St.Thomas University.

Linda Samkova, a third year student in Hotelschool The Hague, started writing letters around her high school years. Her older sister encouraged her to write the letters. This practice spread to her close friends, and they in turn involved other people in writing letters. Besides the message written within the card, letter writing has become an artistic endeavor, where one could express their creativity.

“You may just start off with plain envelopes and plain paper and just writing hey how are you but then later you will channel all this creativity into creating letters that look more artistic. Like maybe moving on from just gluing the sides to using a wax stamp, or just these special stickers that look like vintage ornaments, ” said Samkova

However, with such a hobby, comes patience and determination which can sometimes be a burden when finding necessary resources becomes difficult.

“I don’t write hand written letters because it is very hard to get international post it stamps and it just takes too much time, ” said Elizabeth Polk, business student at STU.

Perhaps, one of the most satisfying moments of letter writing can be the sealing of the envelope with its precious feelings inside.

“There are personal things you can do to a letter than you cannot do to a text message. I’ve known my mom to do is to remind me of home, she will take her perfume and spray it on the corner of the letter so I can smell my home I guess,” said Moore.

Not only does this action make you feel at home, it also creates a deeper bond with your loved ones because of that extra effort put into writing it. Alaina Mejia, second year student at STU, writes letters to her boyfriend who is currently living in USA. She finds letter writing a valuable activity.

“I do think that the lack of writing letters is a bit of a loss because it is such a meaningful way to express your ideas and put it in a little thought to speak to someone… Writing a letter shows that you actually put a pen to paper, thought through it, and sent it off, ” said Mejia.

Yet with the deliveries taking from two days to a few months, it may be discouraging to send letters. Especially when you can send a message on social media within a few seconds and receive a response just as quickly.

“By sending a letter you never know when they are going to receive it. And they might receive it during the least expected time when they are either having some hardships or they are having maybe the best times of their life. And just by sending a letter it would make a big difference for them,” said Samkova.

So maybe taking up a pen in your free time and writing a letter to someone isn’t a bad idea. Pouring out some of that creative soul into a letter makes it more special to both the writer and the recipient.