After writing my letters I observed some distinct differences. First, with email there was a more casual feel. There was less emphasis on punctuation, formal letter form, capitalizations, and even the language used. In emails I often use the little symbol smilies like “:)” or “;)”. In a handwritten letter I would never even think to use these. The email was much longer because the ease and flow of typing made it quite easy to just go on and on. However, when writing my letter I just wanted to get it over with because writing by hand seems more like a chore than fun. Even when I get hand written letters, I respond by email. In my email letter (and other emailing experiences) I often start the email with “hey” or “hi” or just get right into what I am talking about. In the written letter I started it with the formal “Dear…” It would seem entirely strange to be to write a letter beginning with “hey!” There was much more thought and detail put into the grammar and punctuation in my hand written letter. In my email, I just typed and typed many a run on sentence and only stopped when a word was flagged with the little red squiggly. In the email, I didn’t use proper capitalizations. Instead of “I”, I would just leave “i”. This would never happen in a handwritten letter, I do not think ever in my life have I accidentally put a lower case “I.” But I supposed in the world of internet communications this has become acceptable. There were some differences, however in my email letter than in my normal emails. Because of who I was writing to, I refrained from using internet slang. Whereas in some emails I may use “lol” or other such acronyms. I don’t think many people would use these internet short hands in handwriting. I have seen it before but when I do it just seems out of place and I think the person doesn’t know what they are talking about. Also, how my letters were ended was different. At the end of my long hand letter I wrote “Love, Kim.” At the end of my email letters (as I end most of my emails) I wrote “~Kim.” I would seem rude and abrupt in a long hand letter to just end it with “Kim.” However, it seems with the internet there is a whole different set of rules. What may seem rude in a handwritten letter is completely acceptable on the internet. There are two different sets of manors for each technology. I have never really thought about it until now, but it seems that most of us follow these rules without even thinking about it. In most cases people are raised that letters are formal, emails are casual.
Interestingly enough, when thinking about this weeks reading of Postman Chapter 4, I wonder why we put so much stock into the information on the internet. Why is it that we believe the internet just because it is a technology, and has its roots in science? We have learned too much this term that people lie on the internet. So why is it that we use it so casually? After this assignment and critiquing my two letters, I think that I am much more likely to believe what is said in a handwritten letter/source (I am extending this thought to texts as well) than what I find on the internet.
