Writing a letter is above all an extraordinary tool of self-analysis and reflection.
Never as in front of a blank sheet (or screen) our thoughts unravel and reveal our true intentions.
Writing a letter, then, is an act of great generosity towards the recipient because as we write we constantly think of him who will read us, of the reactions he will have, what he will think of us.

Furthermore, writing a letter is a gesture that expands time and multiplies it: there is in fact the time of the writer, a long and reflective time, in search of a perfect balance between said and unspoken, and then there is the time of the reader, sometimes quick and curious, sometimes relaxed and smug.
And finally there is the time of memory, the one in which the letter will continue to live for those who wrote it and for those who received it, jealously kept in a drawer, picked up several times to be read and reread, or simply etched in the mind.

Some „futurologists“ claim that e-mails will become obsolete in a few more years: in fact, the importance of this communication channel has been waning in recent years, and there are significant problems that limit the possibility of a effective use, first of all the fact that it is very easy to falsify the sender (except in the case of the PEC, which however has a relatively limited use), making spam and phishing easy, not to mention the mass of unwanted emails that often drown the relevant ones .

Psychologists also stress the benefits of traditional writing: when we write by hand, we retain the best information and can even increase our creativity and feel happier and
as paper requires more effort than e-mail, it has been shown that recipients tend to „feel more loved because they took the time to do something specifically for them“.

The writer and humorist David Sedaris has jumped to the headlines for his habit of writing letters to his fans and everyone he works with on a book tour. He also always sends a thank you card to anyone who invites him to dinner. „I feel like it was dpiu i class to do it with ‚real‘ mail,“ he said. “It’s too easy to do it via email. It doesn’t even have much meaning. „
Psychologists also stress the benefits of traditional writing: when we write by hand, we retain the best information and can even increase our creativity.
In one study, Steven Toepfer, associate professor of human development and family studies at Kent State University in Salem, asked participants to compose three „thank you letters“ within a month. Participants could write to anyone, as long as the content was positive. With each letter, the participants experienced higher levels of happiness and satisfaction and lower levels of depressive symptoms.

Some experts have speculated that within a few years there may be a sort of throwback to traditional mail. In fact, this is a form of communication that has been completely waning in recent years, replaced as it has been by messages, messaging apps, etc. For example, in recent years the number of letters in transit in offices has dropped by 50% for example. But faced with this change, there are those who claim that it is time to return to traditional mail, which in an era of endless whatsapp chat can allow you to make your message emerge. I wonder how the matter will end but I certainly don’t see a return to the written form at all negative, on the contrary! Do you want to put the emotion of a maybe love letter written to have in your hands? For the moment a dream … but let’s be on guard, who knows that there really isn’t a return to the past!

-linate