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You never write. You never call.
Sound familiar? Probably something you’ve heard from mom or dad or maybe even grandma. Our parents have had to give in to text messaging and joining Facebook just to keep tabs on us. My entire family is now on Facebook and quite honestly, it’s frightening. Remember when Facebook was simply a place for people with college email addresses? Remember when you didn’t have to police your tagged photos? Anyway –not my point.
Our generation relies heavily on the internet and our cell phones. I bet a lot of you can’t even go fifteen minutes without touching your iPhone/Blackberry. Go ahead, try it… I’ll wait. While a lot of this is fantastic and we are lucky to have so much technology at our fingertips, we’ve kind of turned into blithering idiots.
Yes, yes, we know how to code and tag and blog and tweet. Unfortunately, we can hardly compose a sentence anymore and I can’t even imagine what we would do without spellcheck. Guys ask girls out via text message (lame) and people meet on Twitter (lamer). No one knows how to even pick up the phone anymore (lamest). When did we become so technologically dependent? Our grandparents would be appalled by our social etiquette (or lack thereof). I don’t care if they have invented “netiquette.” That is just a cop out word created to make us feel better about our social inadequacies.
customizable stationery from Paperless Post
Giving someone a Facebook “shoutout” on their birthday or a “Happy Thanksgiving” mass text during the holidays is just plain impersonal. Send me a mass text, I dare you. Newsflash: an e-mail does not = a letter. Seriously, when is the last time you sent a hand written “thank you” note? I’m surprised the paper industry is still in business! We don’t even send out actual paper invitations anymore (unless we’re talking wedding- which is probably single handedly what’s keeping paper stores afloat). Instead we send evites and Facebook event invitations. What are we? Heathens?
An ex boyfriend once mailed me a card a month into dating to tell me how much he had enjoyed the past few weeks we’d spent together. We lived in the same city, there was no need to actually mail me something, but the simple gesture won serious bonus points in my book. (Step one in Bamboozle 101). Sure, I said ex boyfriend, but I dated him for another 15 months after that darn card- so it counts for something.
Have you ever been into a stationery store? It’s like fashion for paper! Not sure why you wouldn’t take delight in designing your own stationery or picking out beautifully created notecards. OR if you’re really crafty, you could even make your own!
You have no idea how much it means to receive a handwritten note, or if you’re lucky, letter from someone. I mean, how do you plan on scrapbooking an email? So, I urge you to put down your phone. Close your laptop. And pick up a pen. Perhaps this is one instance where going back in time could benefit us greatly.
xx,
WhyDid
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