WillPhonesKillLetterWriting

Today,morethaneverbefore,wedependontheexpediencybroughtaboutbysuchmoderndevicesasphones.Asaresult,whenwefeeltheneedtocommunicatewithfriends,insteadofpickingupthepentosetdowntoseriouswriting,wepickupthephone.Indeed,wespeaksomuchandwritesolittlethatsomepeoplebegintosuspectthatphoneswillkillletterwriting.Howeverwidelyuseditistoday,thephonewillnottaketheplaceofletter,forbothphoneandletterwritinghaverespectivefunctionstoperform.

Thereareatleasttworeasons,asfarasIamconcerned,whythiswillnothappen.Foronething,althoughphonesadmittedlyhavealreadytakenovermanyrolestraditionallyplayedbytheletter,therearecertainareassuchascommercialtransactionsandlegalcorrespondence,inwhichblackandwhitesincerityandconfirmationisstillamust.Foranother,innowaycanaquickphoneconversationconveyandaccomplishasmuchasadeliberate,wellwordedletterdoes.Forinstance,thereseemstobenobetterdevicethanletterwritingtoexpressdeep,heart-felt,profoundlove,afactunderlinedbytheenormouslovelettersofgreatmenandwomen.

Asweknow,inthe1960’s,therehadbeensomuchtalkthatTVwouldkillnewspapers.Andithasneverhappened.Todayweareinasimilarsituation.Wecanbecertain,forthereasonsdiscussedabove,thatletterwritingisirreplaceable.