#97: Greetings Cards
Why do we still hold a preference for the physical over the virtual?
I’ve been quite on the ball this week, buying and writing a number of cards for various friends, mostly for upcoming birthdays. Which is quite funny, because I used to be so against cards.
I thought that they were a waste of paper, preferring instead to simply write a quick note on the wrapping paper. Now, however, I think differently, because I am sending the majority of these cards in the post. I won’t be there when they are opened, so I have to write all that I wish to say on paper.
Cards carry the messages I cannot say to my friends in person. More than that, they add a special quality to that message, a different quality from that found in a phone call or a Facebook message.
The medium of communication is as much a part of the message as the message itself. Birthdays, for instance, are days which bring all sorts of different forms of messages: phone calls, party guests, packages, emails, texts, snapchats, Facebook posts, and of course, birthday cards. The short little virtual messages from friends are lovely in themselves, and while the majority of Facebook ‘happy birthday’ posts will say pretty much the same thing, each one still individually adds to the happiness and warmth of that day. Facebook posts are also probably the most similar to birthday cards, and as we can now increasingly personalise them with colourful backgrounds or old photos, they are getting closer and closer to that age-old favourite, the pretty bit of card that appears through the letter-box.
Yet they still have their differences. As physical birthday cards wing their way through the post, hopefully arriving on time but often with a little note on the envelope saying “To be opened on …”, they act as a stepping stone between the Facebook post and the birthday present. Inside is written the message which could be typed on any keyboard and posted electronically, but instead is written by hand, possibly with some more elaborately (or badly) drawn emoticons and pictures.
The outside image is the gift-wrapping for the message, turning it into a miniature present, as you try to match a card to the intended recipient’s personality. Whether you go for a style that is beautiful, serious, rude, comic, adorable, witty, or wacky, in-jokes will be had and memories will be shared. When you cannot think of a physical present to give, a card helps to share your affection through a little note of love and friendship.
The message, then, is inextricably tied up in the medium that is chosen. Our thoughts transfer onto the physical objects of these cards, turning them into more than they may appear to be. The postal service may be viewed as struggling, but so too have the fates of other popular items struggled, such as books, vinyl, typewriters, and polaroids. Yet what do we see now? Vinyl is the thing to have when listening to music, book sales now threaten the future of ebooks, polaroid cameras are making a comeback, and you can now buy a typewriter keyboard for your tablet. While technological advances continue, humans are still clinging to that feeling of the physical world. They are a reminder of the value we place on our material objects, just as these cards are a physical reminder of the intangible affection I have for my friends. The virtual world may be growing, but we haven’t lost our value for the physical world yet.
