The thought of someone picking up an ink pen, writing their thoughts onto paper by hand, and taking the time to mail it through the post implies that, whatever it is they have to say, they mean it.
On the Internet, through text-messaging and e-mails or, heck, Twitter, that sense just doesn't seem to be there. Maybe it's the simplicity of the process, or the attention-seeking nature of the online social network.
The distance, perhaps -- as you read a letter, you're holding a piece of paper that the sender also had contact with, forming a kind of spaceless bond, while as you read an e-mail, you're simply looking at characters on a screen, data careening through a vast expanse of cable and reproduced without any sense of connection to the person who clicked "send".
Now, a recent survey has found that, among 50-year-olds, fewer are hand-writing letters.
Half, in fact.
Keep in mind that this is among 50-year-olds. You can assume that, among younger demographics, the number of individuals who write letters by hand declines greatly.
This trend doesn't necessarily affect our perception of the value of hand-written letters, however, as most still feel that they contain more value than their electronic counterparts.
What does this mean? It means that, even though more and more people are forsaking the hand-written letter in favor of more easily-accessible mediums such as e-mail, we'd still be pretty darn excited to receive a letter in the mailbox.
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