Paper trail

"Handwritten communication is still very much alive, primarily because advanced information technology is available only to a small segment of the population.

While Internet services in the United States and Europe have started becoming available to users for free, here most people head for Internet cafes for some cyber-exploration. If one’s pockets aren’t deep enough, exploration may be limited or done away with altogether."

I just checked out an old blog in which I kept some of my published work, and that one above is an excerpt from a story I wrote almost 15 years ago! Reading through it was pure nostalgia; it even reminded me of the stationery collection I kept as a child. Remembering the floppy and microfloppy diskettes I used extensively and have since discarded also gave me a slight emotional tug (ang drama).

Life definitely was radically different in pre-Internet days. No email, no "googling" and no online chatting; there was definitely more meaningful communication, relentless honest-to-goodness research, and patience borne out of the need for waiting (like I mentioned here). Man has benefited tremendously from the fruits of technological advancement. Now, if only man could catch up in terms of the practice of virtue amid all that advancement. You know, character-strengthening alongside each step on the road of material progress.

Anyway, the 1999-penned article for the Philippine Daily Inquirer shows just how lifestyles have been altered since that time. You can read it here.

If you fancy a light account of penpal adventures (as in pen & paper) or even just pictures of postmarked envelopes and colorful postcards, I shared my experience in another story, which is on a previous blog post.