I last sent a hand-written letter in 2006. It was sent with a check in gratitude to a friend who sent me a big box full of MAD magazines from the '70s and '80s along with the books.
And there is a thrill in getting mail in the mailbox... though you learn quickly that most will be bills and junkmail.
Comics where the characters don't age are so... weird when they talk about technology. I can't pinpoint why.
Though they don't age in Foxtrot and it works. I think it's because Bill Amend actually knows things about technology and pop culture.
This is just another way of saying "the old ways are best." I do want to send more mail to save the post office and mail on Saturday - I mean, Netflix may jack up their prices if there's no USPS anymore.
But a letter is touching - and so is a card. It's a sign you spent some money in addition to the thought. Though the best is a short note in a big box from Grandma that has candy and old family pictures and peppers that mom and her brother will fight over...
Anyway, this is non-soap opera comic without a joke or punchline. Or is it that we think progress is good, but it really isn't? I think most women, non-white Americans, GLBTQ people, people with disabilities, poor people, and on and on might disagree. Some old things are nice, but for the most part, we're always moving forward and it usually has good results. (I can't imagine my life a generation ago - no internet, shoddy psychiatric care, and college without the internet?! I saw the registration scene in "Back to School" and was quite shocked.)
Oh, I do have a point. Letters have their place. So does e-mail. So does texting. It's not a zero sum game, you can use all - nothing is stopping you.
The attitude I get from this comic and most Pluggers related to technology is that one (the older) is better - period. And the new ways are bad - period.
Text messages are awesome - one morning, I got a text from my mom (because I wake up after she's at school - and the reception for texts is better than that for calls in a lot of places) saying I was smart. It really made me happy. Of course, most days her texts "just" said that she loved me.
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