Technology and Obsolescence

Do you still have stationery, greeting cards, and letterhead paper in your drawers? I just found a whole pile of stationery for the era in which I used Nancy Cane as my pseudonym. It’s a pack of lovely designed letterhead stationery to fit into a printer back in the day when I answered fan letters via snail mail. I could try to use it now to answer the few handwritten letters that still come my way (and I love those!), but it might confuse readers who have no idea I’m Nancy Cane.

So what to do with these relics of a bygone era? Turn them over and recycle them? That would be a shame, considering that I likely spent a lot of money on this personalized supply. I don’t see an alternative, however. Even if I crossed out Cane and wrote in Cohen, I rarely send letters via snail mail to fans anymore.

I still have boxes of lovely stationery, too. Don’t you miss the thrill of getting a handwritten letter from a friend or relative? Of course, I don’t miss the thrill of writing one. Typing is faster. I use this stationery now for note paper. Even when I have to jot a message to someone, I have personalized notepads that serve that purpose.

Greeting cards can still be useful. It’s good to keep a supply of birthday, get well, and sympathy cards handy. Friends still really appreciate it when you take the time to write a note and mail it. If we’re neglectful, the greeting card companies will be sure to remind us of upcoming holidays.

My cousin mentioned an idea for recycling cards. Cut out the picture part and slap it between two laminated sheets, then use it as a coaster. As for Christmas cards, I save them each year. After a few years have passed, I cut out the picture half and donate a batch of them along with other goods to a local charity. I figure someone there might have the talent to turn these into a craft project.

So do you have any old-fashioned stationery lying around your house? Or any ideas for using letterhead imprinted paper with an outdated name or address?

Lost Skills

I’ve been sorting through a box of memorabilia dating back to congratulation cards my parents received when I was born. In the interest of decluttering, I’ve thrown out all greeting cards except the ones from my immediate family, old report cards, menus and certificates that are no longer meaningful.

I’m more hesitant to discard letters. Some are written by me to my parents describing my travels and experiences. Some are letters that my parents wrote to me. And some are from my husband in our early acquaintance days. What a treasure these represent! And what a sad loss to society today that we no longer receive hand-written letters like these.   

Emails and text messages are so much more impersonal, quick paragraphs in abbreviated language that don’t describe events with the depth found in a hand-written letter. A person had to take the time to compose their thoughts, write them neatly in legible script, and mail the letter. These missives had emotional impact sorely lacking in today’s form of communication. One used to find such a letter in the mail and open it with anticipation and joy. Pages of handwriting would unfold, and we could share the scribe’s life albeit vicariously.

In this age, end of the year holiday letters might summarize events in typewritten form that goes out to all the people on a sender’s mailing list. It’s not personal, directed to the receiver. Nor is an email a keeper. Sure, we can print one out, but it lacks the personal touch, the ink on paper, the crinkly feel of a real letter on a piece of pretty stationery. When’s the last time you used old fashioned stationery? Sent a real greeting card? In schools today, cursive writing is no longer being taught. I am sad for this loss. I am sad that we no longer get letters that are worth saving in our time capsule boxes of memorabilia. Writing letters is a lost art, subjugated to the progress of technology. Or maybe it’s just one less thing for our heirs to throw out some day.

Are you a saver of memorabilia or are you a minimalist? Do you miss the days of hand-written letters and personally penned greeting cards?