While at the post office recently, I saw what had to be a twelve year old girl purchasing a stamp for a letter she wanted to send, and after receiving the stamp, she looked at her mother, and pointed at the wrong corner of the envelope. The mother corrected her and the girl placed the stamp on the envelope and then once again looked confused. The mother grabbed it and tossed it in the mail slot.
Had this girl never sent a real, paper letter before? I was shocked, but this brings me to my point: Shutdown Day is May 3rd, please participate!
If you are a parent, teacher, or otherwise able to shape the minds of the youth of today, get them to shut down their electronic devices and do things manually. A paper letter is a great thing to receive, and I am saddened that the youth of today aren’t taking part in sending them on occasion. Sure, the girl could have been a little slow, but I wouldn’t be surprised if most children around her age haven’t had the experience of sending a real letter, as e-mail, text messaging, instant messaging, cell phones, and the like are continuing to make snail mail a dead medium for communication.
Sure, it might be odd to go without technology for a day, but it will help your state of mind, and balance your life a bit better. Besides, on May 4th, we can turn all of our gadgets and gizmos back on and catch up on what we missed before Monday rolls around.
Not to be argumentative purely for the sake of being argumentative, but why? How will avoiding technology for a day help our state of mind or balance our lives better?
I honestly don’t see how avoiding a faster, more efficient way of communication in favor of the way it used to be done brings us any benefit.
It would be a real shutdown day, if all of us decide to shut our mouth… and not the gadgets…..
Crackerbob,
Regardless of how advanced email and electronic communcations become, some things have to be done with a physical letter. In fact, the more we use electronics, the more romantic snail-mail letters become. In fact, I might even send one to my girlfriend even though I only live ten minutes away…