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Post by allanorn on Mar 1, 2019 4:39:47 GMT
One of my surprise letters from LetterMo asked me a question that I'm still formulating a response to (bolding of question is mine): This one's tough for me since I want to say the USA has a lot of InCo and LetterMo participants, likely due to the Internet - but I hesitate to call us a letter writing nation. The Household Diary Study I mentioned in another post seems to confirm this: My hesitation also extends from not knowing what a letter writing nation would be or look like in the present day. I would definitely say that the USA was a letter writing nation up until the 1990s, when the cost of phone calls fell from the stratosphere and the Internet was barely a thing. But would the USA be considered a letter writing nation today? Just because we still generate over 40% of the world's mail doesn't mean we are writing a lot of it. What do you think? Which nations would be a letter writing nations these days, and under what context?
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Post by Gary S on Mar 1, 2019 16:12:51 GMT
I think this is a very tricky question to try to answer. We, by our natural tendencies, are all letter writers or we wouldn't be on these letter writing web sites, forums and taking part in letter writing challenges each February. That colors our perceptions. I know very few people that still write letters outside the circle of pen pals I've found on these web sites. Most of my family and friends are not letter writers and look at me oddly. They may remember them from their youth if they are old enough but they don't write letters now.
I would say that there are countries that have a strong history of letter writing and mailing because their government provided a reliable mail service historically. This would most likely correspond fairly strongly with their home country having 1st nations status. The US, EU and a lot of European countries would probably fall under this heading as well as say Japan and Australia. When living in a third world country most do not have time to worry about letter writing as they struggle to survive. Modern technology has definitely superseded letter sending as the primary means of long distance communication and many persons who don't have a firm grounding in letter writing as a historical aspect of their lives aren't going to suddenly take it up later in life when they become more financially secure and have free time in which to pursue hobbies.
I know none of that answered your question exactly just some of my personal musings on the subject.
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Post by PhotoJim on Mar 1, 2019 17:07:07 GMT
I would say that there are countries that have a strong history of letter writing and mailing because their government provided a reliable mail service historically. This would most likely correspond fairly strongly with their home country having 1st nations status. The US, EU and a lot of European countries would probably fall under this heading as well as say Japan and Australia. Canada and New Zealand, among others, would be in that category, too.
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Post by Mia on Mar 1, 2019 18:12:16 GMT
When I joined Postcrosisng, many of the postcards were sent to or received from Finland. Germany and The Netherlands weren't far behind. While looking for penpal sites back then, I noticed that Deutsche Post had Letternet, a site that wanted to encourage people to discover the world through letters. Deutsche Post donated money to a literacy charity for every Postcrossing postcard sent from Germany in December. For 2018: On the postage stamp front, some countries, mainly in Asia(?), celebrate International Letter Writing Week.
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Post by allanorn on Mar 1, 2019 19:59:48 GMT
Lots of good points here, and it feels representative of the context of where communication lies today (and why I'm thinking about my answer!). If I were asking this question in the 1980s or earlier, I would definitely have most of the first-world nations and their dependent territories on the list because phone service was expensive and the Internet doesn't really exist. Gary's point about developing/third-world nations could certainly apply to some extent back then. I can't say the same thing if we're answering in today's world though with the average household. First-world nations have largely moved on from physical mail to texting/SMS and the Internet; letter writing has been moved largely to hobby status. I can probably extend this to most nations, but the line between the "haves" and "have-nots" of technology apply. First-world nations have nearly ubiquitous technology to communicate much faster and (theoretically) cheaper than the post office; it's not so much the case in developing and third-world nations. Right now, my thoughts for a list tends to go towards one of three groups: - Countries where there can exist large physical gaps where technology hasn't filled in from a network perspective (e.g. Australia in the Outback);
- Countries where the cost of technology is still way out of the reach of the average household (e.g. India);
- Countries where there is significant reverence for handwritten communication beyond the post (e.g. Japan, maybe most other first-world nations)
I'm not sure how much I need to consider that the possibility that the first two groups eventually go away over time. This really is a contextual question about what defines a letter-writing society in the contemporary world. A thought just occurred to me two minutes after I posted: do we need to answer the question from the context of letter writing being an essential part of communications, or is it okay to change the context to include hobby status? My list is easier to generate in the latter stage and would include the USA; I wouldn't necessarily put the USA in the list of essential communications countries per se.
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Post by Gary S on Mar 1, 2019 22:11:08 GMT
I think we letter writers most likely share other similar traits as well. Nothing is ever 100% but I figure the majority are introverts, spend less than the average amount of time watching television (whether by choice or physical location limiting reception), are somewhat better read than the average person and other things like this. This means the more populous a country the more likely there are to be folks who fit the letter writer mold and add that to a strong letter writing history in that particular society and you will end up with more letter writers. Perhaps not as a percentage but in sheer volume which would lead to a better chance that things like Lettermo or InCoWriMo would develop spurring even more participation.
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Post by distractedmom on Mar 2, 2019 5:49:55 GMT
This has become quite a philosophical discussion. I'm enjoying it. Do we in the US write letters because our first world status affords us the opportunity to do so? So much to think about...
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Post by distractedmom on Mar 2, 2019 5:53:40 GMT
I think we letter writers most likely share other similar traits as well. Nothing is ever 100% but I figure the majority are introverts, This is what my instinct was and why I asked about personalities in the other thread. I fear that I am the only extrovert among us. Please don't excommunicate me.
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Post by Gary S on Mar 2, 2019 7:10:52 GMT
I fear that I am the only extrovert among us. Please don't excommunicate me. Your outa here! I'm shocked, shocked I say, that people asking to join aren't better vetted than this.
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Post by although on Mar 2, 2019 13:54:11 GMT
I would think that Japan, and possibly China would have more of a predisposition toward being a letter writing country than many western nations. This is largely because their handwriting, at least the traditional alphabets, is frequently considered an art form. I see wall-hanging art from asia that features big bold writing (brush writing?). There is also the much stronger stationery market in Japan to consider. I feel like those guys find more beauty in their handwriting than most of the rest of the world with our more-easily computerized alphabets.
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Post by allanorn on Mar 2, 2019 23:23:37 GMT
I would think that Japan, and possibly China would have more of a predisposition toward being a letter writing country than many western nations. This is largely because their handwriting, at least the traditional alphabets, is frequently considered an art form. I see wall-hanging art from asia that features big bold writing (brush writing?). There is also the much stronger stationery market in Japan to consider. I feel like those guys find more beauty in their handwriting than most of the rest of the world with our more-easily computerized alphabets. Yeah, I'm inclined to agree with this. Japan does have a strong stationery and calligraphy market. China's tough at the current moment just because of the political situation; I'm not sure how private their mail system really is. I think I'm going with a two-part response to keep this simple and not make it a thesis (it's my first reply back to her!). The first is letter writing as a primary/essential personal communications tool, which considers the reach and cost of technology relative to the postal service (e.g. India). The second is letter writing as art/hobby, which includes a chunk of the first-world nations. Given that she's from Germany I can point her to Postcrossing as Mia indicated, and also that technology has a large impact because the USA is well connected and has disposable income to make letter writing a hobby.
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Post by Gary S on Mar 3, 2019 1:37:22 GMT
I would say that there are countries that have a strong history of letter writing and mailing because their government provided a reliable mail service historically. This would most likely correspond fairly strongly with their home country having 1st nations status. The US, EU and a lot of European countries would probably fall under this heading as well as say Japan and Australia. Canada and New Zealand, among others, would be in that category, too. I was limiting myself to countries with more than ~150 inhabitants
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Post by PhotoJim on Mar 3, 2019 4:38:40 GMT
Canada and New Zealand, among others, would be in that category, too. I was limiting myself to countries with more than ~150 inhabitants Hey! There are 300 in Toronto alone.
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