07:35
Faizan
Traditionalists might bemoan the passing of paper letters, or snail mail, because of the rise in popularity of email. No one has ever saved a pile of binary code, neatly folded and tied with a ribbon, but many have saved letters in this fashion. While personal letters have all but gone out of style, there are a lot of advantages to using email instead of paper mail.
Time
Time may be the most obvious advantage emails have over paper letters. Once you send an email, the time before the recipient gets it is typically less than a second. On the other hand, letters can take days or, in extreme cases, weeks to reach their destination.
Permanence
If you have information you need to keep, it's safer to have it in digital form. You can make copies online and on various digital devices, ending up with an almost endless array of backup copies. There is a reason that people are advised to think before writing anything online. Paper, on the other hand, can be burned, shredded, lost or otherwise destroyed. Unless you go through a physical process to copy the information, if can be easily lost.
Richness
Paper letters are words on a page. At best, they may include drawings or have photographs included with them. Emails, on the other hand, can be rich in multimedia. You can add music, spoken words or other sound effects. You have the ability to add movie clips, animation and even links to information and other sites of interest. Letters are static, but emails can be jumping-off points for more information.
Effort
In slacker moments, everyone enjoys taking the path of least resistance. If you want to write a letter you must find pen and paper, write the actual letter, find an envelope, fold the letter, put it in the envelope, and address the envelope. Then you have to find a stamp, stamp the letter and actually go to a mailbox to mail the letter. This is for one letter to one person. With email, you must type a letter, including an email address, then click on a send button. If you want to send the same letter to thousands of people, simply add more email addresses or use an email blast service. Email is a lot less work.
Secrecy
If you have a reason to hide your letters, email is the way to go. While there are alternate ways to receive your mail besides getting it at home, they all involve you going to a physical place and retrieving paper evidence. You can set up thousands of anonymous email addresses and never let any know about them except your correspondent. Use secure email and encryption programs for very sensitive material and it's virtually impossible for anyone to read your email.
Time
Time may be the most obvious advantage emails have over paper letters. Once you send an email, the time before the recipient gets it is typically less than a second. On the other hand, letters can take days or, in extreme cases, weeks to reach their destination.
Permanence
If you have information you need to keep, it's safer to have it in digital form. You can make copies online and on various digital devices, ending up with an almost endless array of backup copies. There is a reason that people are advised to think before writing anything online. Paper, on the other hand, can be burned, shredded, lost or otherwise destroyed. Unless you go through a physical process to copy the information, if can be easily lost.
| Reasons Email Better Than Letters |
Paper letters are words on a page. At best, they may include drawings or have photographs included with them. Emails, on the other hand, can be rich in multimedia. You can add music, spoken words or other sound effects. You have the ability to add movie clips, animation and even links to information and other sites of interest. Letters are static, but emails can be jumping-off points for more information.
Effort
In slacker moments, everyone enjoys taking the path of least resistance. If you want to write a letter you must find pen and paper, write the actual letter, find an envelope, fold the letter, put it in the envelope, and address the envelope. Then you have to find a stamp, stamp the letter and actually go to a mailbox to mail the letter. This is for one letter to one person. With email, you must type a letter, including an email address, then click on a send button. If you want to send the same letter to thousands of people, simply add more email addresses or use an email blast service. Email is a lot less work.
Secrecy
If you have a reason to hide your letters, email is the way to go. While there are alternate ways to receive your mail besides getting it at home, they all involve you going to a physical place and retrieving paper evidence. You can set up thousands of anonymous email addresses and never let any know about them except your correspondent. Use secure email and encryption programs for very sensitive material and it's virtually impossible for anyone to read your email.
