“Oh yes, wait a minute, Mr. Postman …”
“There must be some word today
From my boyfriend so far away
Please, Mr. Postman, look and see
If there’s a letter, a letter for me”
From the song “Please Mr. Postman”
Remember waiting for a letter from a friend, family member, or love interest? It could take days, even a week or more to get that correspondence, but oh how exciting it was to finally hold that mail in your hand. In today’s technological world, where it’s much easier and quicker to send a text message, email, or post on social media, letter writing seems to have disappeared the way of video rental stores. Or has it?
Is Letter Writing Making a Comeback?
How long has it been since you’ve written a letter by hand or sent a postcard? A 2025 poll published by 105.7 WROR asked the question: “When did you last write a handwritten personal letter?” Of the respondents, just 9 % said they had in the past month, 21% wrote one in the past year, and 26% revealed they’re “pretty sure” they’ve written one in the past decade. A little more than a quarter of pollsters said it’s been longer than a decade, and 5% claim they never have. To break it down even more, 20% of Gen Zers, folks between ages 18 and 24, said they have never written a personal letter, while only 2% of people over 50 said the same.
Is letter writing a lost art, or is it making a comeback? Just as how third places are making a comeback, only in a different way, the same seems to be true for letter writing. The fountain pen can be attributed to helping the resurgence of snail mail correspondence. Pinterest and other social media sites have been displaying different fonts using fountain pens and calligraphy styles, which have gained a large following, mostly from the younger generations. This trend has encouraged people to develop pen pals to show off their creativity and join clubs with others who want to share their penmanship style and collections of writing utensils.
The younger generations are also trying to break from what has become an overreliance on technology and screen time. Stephania Kontopanos, a 21-year-old student in Chicago, told AP that it can be hard to put her phone and computer away. “There are times when I’m with my friends and at dinner, I’ll realize we are all on our phones.” Sadly, this scenario is seen everywhere one goes, nowadays.
Bringing back letter writing is more than just a lost art, it is an important way to communicate for humans. Letters are more personal and show the recipient that they matter, that you took the time to make something special for them, instead of an impersonal generic holiday greeting sent out to all your friends on social media platforms.
The Study
A study published in Sage Journals explored how letter writing affected both the writer and the recipient. In three experiments, they had participants write gratitude letters and then they had to guess how they thought the recipients would feel when they received the correspondence – surprised, happy, or awkward, for example.
“Recipients then reported how receiving an expression of gratitude actually made them feel,” the study revealed. “Expressers significantly underestimated how surprised recipients would be about why expressers were grateful, overestimated how awkward recipients would feel, and underestimated how positive recipients would feel. Expected awkwardness and mood were both correlated with participants’ willingness to express gratitude.”
The Importance
The personal touch a handwritten (or even typed) letter provides the person getting the correspondence shouldn’t be undervalued. Just the act of receiving something in the mail (that isn’t a bill), something that can be physically held, is an endorphin booster, bringing surprise, anticipation, and excitement to the receiver. Then, opening the mail and finding a personal letter, something someone took time creating just for them, makes the person feel special.
“We all have a need to matter—to be considered and to be seen,” Alison McKleroy, an art therapist in San Francisco, told Time. “When you get a homemade card, it’s sending a message: ‘I spent time doing this thing with you in mind.’ It lands differently.”
It’s also healthy for the person sending the correspondence. “Even five minutes of making something can put you in a flow state, and afterward you feel calmer and more settled,” McKleroy said. “Making a card is very tactile—cutting, gluing, touching—and that kind of tactile input actually calms your nervous system.”
Maybe the question isn’t whether letter writing is coming back, but whether we ever really stopped needing it. Convenience may have pushed it aside, but it never replaced the feeling of unfolding a page that someone chose, wrote on, and sent with you in mind. In a time when communication is constant but connection can feel thin, a handwritten letter stands out precisely because it takes effort. And that effort speaks louder than any emoji or quick reply ever could. So while the mailbox may not be as full as it once was, the meaning behind what does arrive might matter more than ever.
