The allure of an old-fashioned pen pal

[maureenho]

14 March 2014 Last updated at 14:26

The allure of an old-fashioned pen pal

By Kate Dailey BBC News Magazine



Despite the ease of digital communications, many people find there's no replacing the personal touch that comes with a handwritten letter.

Last month writer Marianne Kirby made a simple proposal.

"If you write to me, I promise I will write you a letter in return," she said on the website XO Jane, where she is a contributing editor.

For years, Kirby has been writing letters, but only decided to return to the practice as a hobby last February, when she participated in the second annual Month of Letters, a challenge organised online in which participants send something through the post every day.

To kick off this year's Month of Letters, Kirby gave the readers of XO Jane her post-office box and the promise of a letter in return.

"I underestimated how many I would get - by a lot," she says. "I got close to 200 letters within a three-week time span, and they are still coming in. I got one from Turkey the other day. How small is the world when you can get a letter from Turkey in your mailbox?"

Thanks to technology, of course, the world is very small - Kirby could easily tour a Turkish street via Google Maps or find someone from Istanbul to chat with on Facebook. Crowdsourcing has made it possible for anyone with a laptop to scan the Indian sea in hopes of finding flight MH370.

But perhaps for the same reason, the allure of the written letter remains as strong as ever for a committed few.

"In a world where it is so easy to hop online to email or to send a fast text, it is so personal and so precious to know someone chose to turn off the virtual world to spend some time with you," says Katherine Moller, who met her husband online but writes several letters a week.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26473507

[annie]

I love sending and receiving letters, sadly it is more likely to be just email now, apart from Christmas when I do make the effort to catch up with everyone. I wrote to my pen pal in USA for 49 years from age 11 until sadly she  died suddenly6 years ago. However I still keep in touch with her youngest daughter Loribeth and her husband Chuck

[wendy]

[Rosalind]

[elaineanne]

I write to about 10 different pen pals both here and abroad and it is lovely to get letters from friends, I have also joined swap groups on facebook to do with crochet or charity.

[Honey]

people look forward to the post arriving.
its lovely to get a letter from someone.
many people have forgotten how to write due to the computer.
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