[Sir_Cmpwn]

Of course it's practical! How do you think people kept in touch before the internet? How difficult is it to write up a letter, put it in an envelope with a stamp (which you can pick up at the gas station, grocery store, etc) and drop it in your mailbox?

Printing pictures is only a few bucks, and as a side effect the recipient can easily frame it and put it on their hearth!

[yawz]

Seriously?!? Would you write that letter to dozens of people in 3 different languages? Or should I pick "only one" of my aunts and uncles to share my son's first school day pictures? Or maybe we can create a human chain where one sends the letter and pictures that he/she receives to the next one in line. (hmm... maybe there's a business idea there...)

[Sir_Cmpwn]

You're used to pushing information to them with a firehose. Use a bucket instead. Send letters out infrequently, one per household.

[enjdbsgaga]

This assumes the recipients have consistent addresses, and requires significant additional time and labour. Why would he drop Facebook in favour of snail mail, when e-mails (a more convenient version of the same thing) provided an inadequate solution for him in the past?

You can put just as much time and thought into an email as you can a letter. Technology is not the issue here, merely etiquette.

[Sir_Cmpwn]

I wrote about the difference between snail mail and letters here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15031357

[yawz]

Instead of writing letters, I guess I prefer to have hobbies.

[paulcole]

How many handwritten letters do you send?

[Sir_Cmpwn]

I never said handwritten. I send printed letters every month or two.

[yawz]

Why would you print a typed letter and send it by mail instead of e-mailing? Waste of resources, if you ask me, and pretty expensive depending on the country you're sending it to. Good for USPS, though.

A typed letter is not more personal than e-mail, I'm afraid.

[Sir_Cmpwn]

>Why would you print a typed letter and send it by mail instead of e-mailing? Waste of resources, if you ask me, and pretty expensive depending on the country you're sending it to. Good for USPS, though.

I just checked with USPS. It costs _a dollar_ to mail a letter from Philly to Madagascar.

>A typed letter is not more personal than e-mail, I'm afraid.

Comparing it to an email is clever, because it helps your point seem more valid. But this is about Facebook, so I'm going to compare it to that - though many of these points are valid when comparing against email as well.

Facebook is a constant barrage of snippets from constant mini mind dumps of everything each person is thinking, mixed with ads and distracting videos all carefully served by an algorithm that uses machine learning to steal your attention for as long as possible and addict you to the service.

A letter, typed or not, is going to be read in the real world, probably sitting down somewhere comfortable without any ads or distractions. It will be written more thoughtfully because it is an infrequent occurance. It may have been mailed with photos or a small trinket that made you think of them. How would you react if you received a thoughtful letter from your sister instead of of a hundred thoughtless shouts into the void? I certainly hope you would be touched, and I feel bad for your sister if you wouldn't.

All you're doing in this thread is deflect, deflect, deflect. I have no idea what you're trying to accomplish. I am fully convinced that you are a Facebook addict in denial.

[yawz]

For me this is similar to junk that I receive by snail mail :). They go directly to recycling.

Same with Facebook (for any other media type, for that matter). I put my filters on, and I don't get distracted by the adds.

Also, on Facebook, I'm arguably pushing more information than I'm pulling. So my consumption and communication is somewhat limited to the notifications that I get. So I already have a filter when I connect: I look at my notifications. I don't browse Facebook aimlessly. My time is precious ;).

There are reasons why snail mail is not so popular anymore. It's not because we are technology junkies, but mainly because snail mail is inefficient and much less interactive. Why don't we play chess by mail, or play a an RPG game by mail? Certainly some people still do but we have much better ways of doing it now.

I like "writing" and I have a decent handwriting. But, to me, writing letters for everything I want to share with my friends and family looks like overkill to say the least.

I'm not happy that Facebook is the most efficient way for me to communicate with friends and family living abroad, but until there is a better alternative, I'm afraid I'm stuck with it.

Only exception is my grandma and a good friend who refuses to be on FB (he lives in Australia). I use phone and video to catch up with them :).

[yawz]

> I am fully convinced that you are a Facebook addict in denial

This is certainly your right, but I am not. Someone said "denial"? :)

I rarely get religious and passionate about things. I don't have FB shares. I'm simply pragmatic. It serves its purpose. Nothing more.