Do You Write an Email or Send a Letter?

Technology has changed the way that people do virtually everything. Correspondence has not been untouched as people have begun to send out quick emails rather than handwritten letters in last decade. The difference between an ordinary letter and an email is more than just the way that they are written and received by the intended recipient. The very reaction and emotion that is invoked when they are received are different between the two.

Writing an Email versus writing a letter. An email is written into a tiny box on your computer screen while an ordinary letter can be either typed or hand written. Emails have built in spell checks that allow you to check for accuracy in the words that you typed into your screen before you hit the send button. Ordinary letters leave all the spelling corrections up to the writer alone. It is not uncommon for letters to arrive with words scribbled out unless of course the writer is a perfectionist and started over with each little mistake.

Feelings invoked by "ordinary" letters. Traditionally ordinary letters to friends and family were penned onto small stationary or a piece of notebook paper. A personal feel is attached to the letter that is written by hand no matter how short or cold it may be. Reading an ordinary letter can let the one receiving it feel as if they are living the emotion that has gone into writing it. These are more likely to end up tear stained, weathered and worn as they are pulled out and read repeatedly through the years.

Email lacks feeling. Emails are short, sweet and to the point. Nothing is expressed through the text and some things get lost in the translation. While you can dress it up with cute little icons though it is still not the same as those cute little curly cues that are in hand written messages. No matter what type of emotion is expressed in an email the same feeling is not gotten as when you read the words on paper.

An ordinary letter is something that is pulled out time and time again to read. It is full of life and emotion from the writers own unique penmanship and reflects the personality of the writer in phrases and spacing. When you read it again and again it brings back memories and you can picture the events that you are reading about.

An ordinary letter is enclosed in an envelope with a postmark attached so that you can see when it was sent to you and from where. An email is time and date stamped but it can accidentally get erased or merely scanned over. Even saving emails to read later does not allow the same connection to be felt with the person that typed it up as reading a letter that was gotten through the mail.

Emails are instant. The replies are just as instant as the original messages that were sent. An ordinary letter takes at least a few days to get to its destination depending on how far away. The reply takes just as long. There is a chance of the ordinary letter getting misdirected or lost completely in the mail. The email is not immune has they can get lost somewhere in cyberspace and never make it to the person they were intended for; having them end up in spam folders because of an over sensitive filter is another possibility as well.

Emails are perfectly acceptable in the work environment and to deal with some business situations. However when there are family and friends involved that you want to catch up with the ordinary letter is a better choice. The biggest difference between an email and an ordinary letter is the time and effort you put into it.