I was watching "The Crown", a show about Queen Elizabeth on Netflix, and noticed how many letters these people back in 1940-1950 wrote and read. Every day, or week, they'd send a letter to friends, family. In fact, if you look at the study of history, letters and journals are very important historic documents because they gives us a candid insight into what these important people really thought and how they reasoned. It also tells us what happened at different point in time.
So, a historian from 2300 studying the 21st century will find nothing but our digital records. Which is in some ways an improvement - just think of the blockchain, records impossible to lose - but in other ways i feel that it is a loss of coherence. It is one to chat, chat chat, chat about all and nothing and other to send a LETTER. The medium forces you to be briefer, to try to get to the important bits, to gather your thoughts. That's not nothing.
One might wonder, who even can I send a letter to? If no one, why not yourself, I answer. Isn't that what a journal really is? A letter from yourself to yourself? And a very important one. It's not coincidence that every therapist out there recommend journaling. Finding yourself is hard when you are typing in 10 chat windows in the same time.
I am trying it myself and find it very difficult. In a way, I try to treat my posts as part journal/part literature so that helps but still, it's very different. And sometimes there's nothing to write about. But being with your journal, facing the blank page can be a learning experience in itself.
Lucky for you, maybe you do have someone who would appreciate a letter. You know, it's something special that people might actually keep and remember, when a mail or Whatsapp message is just a notification somewhere.
Enjoy!