Samstag, 19. März 2011
mail and travel
diegolego, 18:26h
Sun is shining, weather is nice. Perfect opportunity to stay at home and to write a blog entry. So do I.
Many years ago I have been living abroad. At the time electronic mail was not yet established/popular. This means, one had to write conventional mail. Although we had one of the early deskjet printers, it was common to write personal letters manually (have you ever tried?). Typically the letters took 5-7 days to arrive, one way. Since it was a bit of work to write, one usually also did reply letter right away. Accordingly, there was a period of two to four weeks between sending and receiving letters.
I do not need to detail, which options one has nowadays. To my opinion, mainly the popularity of emails accelerated communication and today one sends mail to Japan, New Zealand, South America, etc. The messages basically arrive instantaneously which represents almost infinite acceleration. Moreover, one can attach pictures and any other digital stuff. The Internet and the involved services provide possibilities which at the time one did not even dream about.
For the young people among you: it was very common to send postcards when one was in vacation and traveling somewhere. I never really liked this habit. The reason is that it looked like if one wants to showoff about where one went for a trip. But it also means that one thinks and misses those who are at home. Today it is not special anymore to fly e.g. to China – just like this. In contrast, it can be very painful if one has to travel a lot. The same holds for communication. It can be very exhaustive.
Many years ago I have been living abroad. At the time electronic mail was not yet established/popular. This means, one had to write conventional mail. Although we had one of the early deskjet printers, it was common to write personal letters manually (have you ever tried?). Typically the letters took 5-7 days to arrive, one way. Since it was a bit of work to write, one usually also did reply letter right away. Accordingly, there was a period of two to four weeks between sending and receiving letters.
I do not need to detail, which options one has nowadays. To my opinion, mainly the popularity of emails accelerated communication and today one sends mail to Japan, New Zealand, South America, etc. The messages basically arrive instantaneously which represents almost infinite acceleration. Moreover, one can attach pictures and any other digital stuff. The Internet and the involved services provide possibilities which at the time one did not even dream about.
For the young people among you: it was very common to send postcards when one was in vacation and traveling somewhere. I never really liked this habit. The reason is that it looked like if one wants to showoff about where one went for a trip. But it also means that one thinks and misses those who are at home. Today it is not special anymore to fly e.g. to China – just like this. In contrast, it can be very painful if one has to travel a lot. The same holds for communication. It can be very exhaustive.
