These days, the Internet allows near-instantaneous replies whereas letter-writing is becoming what is called snail mail. But the postal system isn’t about to become extinct — packages still rely on good old delivery whether ordered via the phone or the Internet.

WE live in interesting times. With every technological advancement introduced for public consumption, something gets left behind.

Once upon a time, we sent off letters on the currency of stamps and waited for a reply that would take time to return. These days, the Internet allows near-instantaneous replies … with delays often limited to the absence (or discretion) of the user at the keyboard.

We have arrived at a point where letter writing — that affair involving papers, pens, envelopes, stamps and a trip to the nearest red letter box — is becoming something older people do. Snail mail, we call it.

Some of us don’t miss the trip to get stamps and the long wait for a reply. Others occasionally look at their bundle of old letters and wonder where they found time for it before.

The postal system isn’t in danger of becoming extinct — it just does not count personal letters as its main component. Packages still rely on good old delivery whether you ordered them on the phone or the Internet.

Official documents like bills, business correspondence and official notices still land in your mailbox. Hard copies tend to be taken more seriously.

The customary “wish you were here” postcard from a travelling friend is a source of delight. The occasional scam letter, sent from a country we only heard about but never visit, is a puzzle. How did they get our names and addresses?

But letter writers of the pre-Internet days still remember the thrill of getting letters with foreign stamps in the corner.

“Waiting for the letters gives me euphoria,” laughed Syamim, a 24-year old student.

“When it arrives, it feels like you’ve won something. That’s the best thing in the snail-mail world. I can show it off to my friends too.”

She noted that while email was fast, it lacked a “certain something”

“The thing I miss about normal letters is that lots of things happen and we have more stories to tell while waiting for their replies to arrive. While with email, to which we can reply everyday, this makes it boring.”

Effadylia Affendi, 21, pointed out the one thing you couldn’t do with email.

“My friend and I still send letters to each other. It’s really handy; you can include things like CDs and books along with the letter.”

A hand-written letter is something that calls for a bit more creativity and effort.

“It’s more personal and more efforts are being put into writing one. Plus it’s less formal, sometimes story-like,” says Effadylia.

“My friend has a funny habit of spraying her perfume on the paper she wrote — I’m sending you a piece of me.”

Pen pals were the main reason young people of the pre-Internet age got the stationery out.

Syamim has a number of pen pals who, surprisingly enough, she found online back in the late 1990’s before they began writing to each other. But pens and letter pads soon evolved into keyboards and instant messenger programmes.

She lost touch with the pen pal from Japan after a few letters but are still in regular contact with two others.

“I found Tabby (from America) in 1998 on a chat programme called PalaceChat32. She’s older than me — with two kids at that time (and now three). We wrote a lot and also exchanged pictures — Christmas and Hari Raya cards every season. Sometimes we do send emails.”

Around year 2000, they lost contact due to busy their lives but found each other again on Myspace last year.

“We don’t send out snail mails anymore, and I kinda miss the old days,” Syamim said.

It is the same thing with her Malaysian pen pal.

“We used to write letters, send postcards and gifts. But now, we just talk in MSN or through her website’s shoutbox.”

Similarly, web designer Irene Law used to write a lot of letters to her pen pals from all over Malaysia.

“I stopped writing letters totally and used e-mail after I finished secondary school because e-mail is faster than snail mail,” she said.

“Letters tend to get lost in mail, I got so fed up with it. Once a friend sent me a letter from New Zealand and it never reached me. We’ve no idea where it’s gone.”

Patrick Jude, an event organiser, also has a thing or two to say about lost mail.

“When we have sent official mail, we still rely on snail mail but I’ve to admit we seldom use Pos Malaysia. Instead, we use courier services. Pos Laju does not deliver on Saturday but courier companies do,” he noted.

While he prefers keeping in touch via the Internet, Jude writes normal mail as well.

“I write snail mail to people over the age of 60 who are hardly computer literate. They used to work in Sarawak but are now back in their homeland.”

Communicating digitally has obvious advantages. If you are like Law, the nature of your work will keep you on the computer and Internet, making email a main medium of keeping in touch.

“I do consider how we communicate now — fast and easy — but do miss the old ways. It’s just that I’m lazy and my handwriting is really horrible now,” Law said.

Doing it electronically has other advantages over traditional pen and paper.

“It’s much easier. You can copy and paste, delete whenever you like but you can’t do that in writing. You have to rewrite everything from scratch if anything goes wrong.”

Nonetheless, Law believes writing a letter should be done once in a while.

Since we all use email now, an occasional letter would be more personalised and special. It can also give our loved ones a surprise. I’m sure they will be very happy to receive it in their physical mailbox,” Law added.

Jude likes the Internet because it cuts down the waiting.

“I prefer communicating via the Internet because you can get an instant reply to a situation or a question that needs answering,” he said.

“But in all honesty, with some of my friends, I wonder if they are replying my email via snail mail.”