Before the commencement of the internet, letters were a popular way of communication between individuals who lived far away from each other. People used to send letters through different sources. With the advancement of time, postal services came into being. This facilitated the exchange of letters and parcels. Lateron, the internet took over, and mail transformed into e-mails meaning letters/ messages sent through an electronic medium.
Snail mail: An Introduction
The term snail mail emerged as slang for the regular postal system. Sending letters took several days back then and postal services were not that efficient so as the name indicates, people started calling it snail mail to mock the slow service.
Pen pals: Introduction & History
Pen pals are usually individuals who have not met each other but are in regular correspondence with one another over a shared interest or just for the sake of being friends. The history of pen pals goes way back. Initially, people used to find their pen pals on their own. In 1936, a formal society namely, ‘Student Letter Exchange’ was formed to facilitate the process of finding a pen pal. The society aimed to encourage students to learn about other countries and cultures through letters. Then later on many such platforms were formed to cater to the individuals in search of a pen pal. In the 1950s, magazines and newspapers started publishing profiles of people who were in search of pen pals in separate dedicated columns.
Now that technology has taken over, the concept of pen pals has also evolved. Traditionally, pen-pals were used to write letters and send them through postal services. Then, people started making pen pals through e-mails, and recently connecting and writing regularly to each other using social media platforms is also a type of being pen pals.
Although technology and the internet have somewhat greatly affected this concept of having a pen pal. With changing circumstances people are again starting to realize, how amazing it is to have someone that you can talk to about your interests in this busy life.
Why a snail mail pen pal?
Being pen pals using old-school postal services is referred to as snail mail pen pal. In today’s fast-paced world, where one can hardly have nice communication with someone, snail mail is a way to get away from the routine hassles and pour your heart out on a paper to someone with similar interests. Want to talk about your favorite book or author or learn a new language? Want to find fan girls/ fanboys who are obsessed with the same celebrity as you? Snail mail is the best way to do it. You might wonder how snail mail can be the best for it as social media platforms and e-mails are more convenient. Here is why. You opened your laptop to reply to an email or talk to a friend on any social media platform and a dozen other notifications popped up distracting you from what you were doing. You have opened several other tabs that kept reminding you of other things you had to do. On the other hand, for writing a letter, you’ll have to sit at your study table away from all the distractions. Corresponding with your pen pal through snail mail is something that can be a great way to lay off some stress and frustration.
How to find a snail mail pen pal?
Finding a snail mail pen pal in this technology-driven era has become quite easy. There are several social media and online platforms that facilitate people in finding a pen pal. Some famous pen pal-finding platforms are listed below.
Global PenfriendsWorldwide snail mail pen pals PostcrossingPenPal WorldThe letter writers’ alliance
These are just some of the widely used platforms for finding pen friends. You can find a lot more platforms like these by surfing the internet. Most of them are free and quite easy to navigate through. You’ll have to follow simple steps to get started.
Conclusion:
Imagine coming home all stressed out and while going through your boring mails of subscription letters, official documents, and other such things you find a letter specially written for you. How great that feeling will be. How amazing you will feel to read something that is written for you only. So what are you waiting for? Go and find yourself, someone, you can write to about whatever you want. Happy Writing Folks!
