Penpal Perspective through the years

So this is more of a curiosity than anything. I’m 39 and have had penpals, in one way or another, since I was 7 and was assigned one for a school project. After that I remember going through actual penpal services. Then the internet became more active in the average person’s everyday life and websites like this started popping up. Then the social media boom etc.

At first it was all handwritten letters that you’d get every 1 to 3 months depending on where in the world someone was located. Then email eventually wiggled in and e-pals became more popular. Now you have social media connecting people in many different ways.

What I’m wondering is, how do other people view it? I imagine people younger than me are more open to the social media aspect of things while I lean closer to snail mail and e-pals.

I kind of miss the way penpals used to work. Writing a couple paragraphs instead of just a couple lines felt more substantial and personal. I don’t necessarily dislike the way it is now, I just miss the other way being more present.

So, to the different age groups, what are your perspectives on this?

I should add that I am very pro-technology and pro-social media. So I am not trying to discourage those two things. I’m just in that age group who has lived half my life with social media and modern tech like smartphones and half without. I almost lost my battle with cancer last year, and I’ve been reflecting on the most random things since. It also popped into my head when I realized this morning that I’ve been using this place more for the daily trivia fix than anything else 😂

Hellooo!! 🙋‍♀️ I first wanted to say that i think it is really good that you won from the cancer and it went away!!!!!!! 🌈🌞🏆 That must be super scary and im happy that you won it like u wrote above!!!! 😊🙏 And abt your question i wanted to write that im not sure what i should write. So like in my family we did write letters and more often we did send packages but it was to family who lives in China in Nanjing. But that is different bc i think my parents would NOTTT think it is good if i give just address to people u dont know very well. I even deleted my homecity bc if for example u write a LOTTT on the forum and people know where u live and then they know other stuff like ur sports or school or just other things then they can still find u and that felt not really comfortable. So i think it is safer and also nice just with socials BUTTT i think it is more like chatting and it goes super fast. But i think u mean like really long letters and that is different bc most people who write on socials or here just write faster and shorter messages bc u can just log in when u want. 🙄🙄 Sorryy i dont know if u meant this as answer but that is just what i think abt it. 🙂

Hellooo!! 🙋‍♀️ I first wanted to say that i think it is really good that you won from the cancer and it went away!!!!!!! 🌈🌞🏆 That must be super scary and im happy that you won it like u wrote above!!!! 😊🙏 And abt your question i wanted to write that im not sure what i should write. So like in my family we did write letters and more often we did send packages but it was to family who lives in China in Nanjing. But that is different bc i think my parents would NOTTT think it is good if i give just address to people u dont know very well. I even deleted my homecity bc if for example u write a LOTTT on the forum and people know where u live and then they know other stuff like ur sports or school or just other things then they can still find u and that felt not really comfortable. So i think it is safer and also nice just with socials BUTTT i think it is more like chatting and it goes super fast. But i think u mean like really long letters and that is different bc most people who write on socials or here just write faster and shorter messages bc u can just log in when u want. 🙄🙄 Sorryy i dont know if u meant this as answer but that is just what i think abt it. 🙂

4th time battling it and hopefully the last time 👍 The first time that it happened was the scariest. Afterwards it got easier. At least emotionally. Definitely not physically.

I definitely don’t recommend giving out addresses to anyone on the internet. Especially nowadays. It was a little bit different when I was younger. Your entire life wasn’t on the web for everyone to see like it is today. My family had a PO Box when I was a kid so I never had to give my actual address out. Otherwise my parents would have had issues with it.

Yeah you basically understand what I’m saying. Chatting is a great way to describe it. When I first started having penpals, it wasn’t a chat. It was about a 3-5 page essay on the past 3 months since the last letter 😂. It was similar with email. The letters naturally got shorter because there was less time to wait between messages. But then social media came and things just became less substantial and detailed. One of my very first penpals I have now known for almost 30 years. The dynamic changed when we both got social media. Not at first, but slowly we stopped actually writing letters and moved to more instant messaging. So what was those beautiful 3-5 page essays turned into “hey here’s a meme I think you’ll like” 😂.

4th time battling it and hopefully the last time 👍 The first time that it happened was the scariest. Afterwards it got easier. At least emotionally. Definitely not physically.

I definitely don’t recommend giving out addresses to anyone on the internet. Especially nowadays. It was a little bit different when I was younger. Your entire life wasn’t on the web for everyone to see like it is today. My family had a PO Box when I was a kid so I never had to give my actual address out. Otherwise my parents would have had issues with it.

Yeah you basically understand what I’m saying. Chatting is a great way to describe it. When I first started having penpals, it wasn’t a chat. It was about a 3-5 page essay on the past 3 months since the last letter 😂. It was similar with email. The letters naturally got shorter because there was less time to wait between messages. But then social media came and things just became less substantial and detailed. One of my very first penpals I have now known for almost 30 years. The dynamic changed when we both got social media. Not at first, but slowly we stopped actually writing letters and moved to more instant messaging. So what was those beautiful 3-5 page essays turned into “hey here’s a meme I think you’ll like” 😂.

Wow it came back 3 times??? 😳😯😯 Did the doctors now tell that it is now FULLYYY away finally? I hope yes and that it does not come back anymore!! 🙏🙏

I think about what u wrote that chatting is also nice and it is just quicker. BUTTT it can also be like super deep stuff to talk abt or just super funny or weird or just anything. So maybe also depends what u like and that way it can still be nice. 🙂

We dont have PO Box what u said and i think if my parents find out i give address to people from internet that they are super angryy and that u have to be really careful. But i think like if u know somebody a LONGGG time it does not matter really and it is safe. And perhaps if u talk with them and my parents can see it too like in real life it is different and after that u can write letters with friends u know like already at least a year. But i did not talk about that yet with them and also if u do it here on PPG or just socials it is quicker and also u dont have to pay anything for sending letters!! 😛 So maybe it is also bc everybody thinks it is easier.

But also if u want it to be more special than like ONLYYY chatting then u can also tell it and then it is still like the letters but just with e-mail or socials or here. So in that case it can still be the same i think.