Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Missing the Snail Mail: From paper and ink to email just a couple of clicks


          Communication is the connection which allows the access between persons from different places or the activity of conveying information or messages.  These messages are sent according to the sender’s mood and intent. But whatever the reason of sending a message the channel or mode of how it will be sent is important. During the early days, the mode of sending messages is with the aid of birds. Pigeons were used by the warlords to send messages to opponents trying to have concrete and mutual agreements. Postal system service was then introduced on 1653 where the Frenchman inventor, sets up mail boxes and delivers any letters placed in them if they used envelopes that only he sold.

            In the present time, messages can be sent in various ways. There is what we call snail mail which physically sends mails through mail box and the other one is what we call electronic mail or popularly known as email which then make use of computer as the sending channel. One method can offer advantages over the other; in contrary it can also impose some drawbacks. The impact of the message can be based on the purpose of the letter. Letters which are personally written by the sender has a greater impact to the recipient, that is the essence of the message can be easily credit to the sender which happens to be the writer. This is very evident to love letters, the thought conveyed is more effective if the letter intended for someone, if it is personally written by the sender, considering the extra effort of writing. The credibility of the message can also be supported by the penmanship, because it served as the exclusive identity of the letter.

The emergence of the more advanced way of sending letters drastically changed the phase. This is because electronic mail services offer a lot of advantages over the conventional way of sending letters. Among these advantages are that email services is very accessible and free, just by making a personal account from so many email service provider sites such as gmail by Google, yahoo mail by Yahoo, etc. one can easily send instant messages, full text messages, images, and other forms, at a touch of  a button. Aside from that one can send messages 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The speed might be the best reason why most of the people shifted to the virtual way of sending messages. One can send a message on any part of the world without waiting any longer for the message to be received by the intended recipient.

            But these mind-blowing improvements have also threats or drawbacks. Since the sender uses an electronic file it can be prone to corruption through virus and by other malicious files that can hamper the message sending process. Hacking might be also be a serious threat, especially if one is trying to send classified messages or even a simple personal message, through hacking one can intervene the channel and illegally view or download the file you are trying to send, as a result, privacy is compromised.

            Let’s also face the fact that most of the people usually think that physical letters may just end up as junk. No one wants to be a hoarder. So the modern technology is making the traditional method dead. In the Philippines aside from the fast phase of technology, the main reason why postal services drastically decline is because of the illegal doings of some of the postmen who try to open and steal the mail package. There are reports that there are many postmen who do this kind of illegal doings. This illegal offense has compromised the credibility of the snail mail or physical postal delivery service. As a result, many people lose their trust of sending their letters through the physical mail box. They are afraid that their letters will never reach the intended recipients.

A recent innovation has addressed this issue, the “Enter mail digitizing startup Outbox” which is launched in San Francisco, USA, actually integrates both the conventional snail mail with the more advanced electronic mail. An “Outbox” drops by your house three days a week to pick up the mail, scan it, store it, and make it digitally available via the Web and or by an iOS application.  

So whatever method of sending letters you intend to choose, always remember that it is always the thought of the message that counts.

No comments:

Post a Comment