Then and Now – Communicating with Family and Friends

As I was growing up, letter writing was the primary way people communicated long distance. Telephone calls were still comparatively expensive – primarily for emergency type communication. Letter writing was something we learned in school and I had at least one long distance friend to hone my skills….and I wrote to my parents when I was away (at camp, for example). Postcards were less expensive that letters, but I usually wrote letters.

For local type communication, the telephone was the main path. Most of our phones had rotary dials although the push button phones began to take over during the 60s; they were all ‘land lines,’ of course. There was only one phone in our house for most of my growing up years, so there was no privacy for conversations; that became troublesome during my teens.

These days we no longer have a land line. Almost all people (except young children) have their own cell phone. The devices are still phones…but there is a lot of communication via text (and occasionally email) using the same device. I have stopped sending letters and cards entirely.  Some of the multi-person type communication (like my neighborhood or my high school class) is done through social media groups rather than mailed newsletters.

There are times I wonder if non-profits have kept up with these shifts…there are a few that still send note cards as an incentive to contribute. I have been putting them in a donate pile…but maybe they should go in recycle instead.

Previous Then and Now posts