What Replaced “Pen Pals?”

Question

Back in the early 90s, I was first introduced to the idea of international e-mail penpals. It blew my mind. I had a friend from Australia I could write to, AND a friend from Ukraine. I was just in the freaking SEVENTH GRADE. It was awesome.Fast forward to today. We can connect with people from all over the world in seconds. But... I haven't had as many deeper connections with people from other countries as I did back then.Why is this? What happened? What replaced the idea of "pen pals" from that era?

legrande · Accepted Answer

I wouldn't rely on 'snail mail' to deliver every message. Although the paper mail system is incredibly reliable in most cases, sometimes messages get 'lost in the post' which is annoying and un-does all your effort of writing the perfect letter only to have it vaporizing.

mooreds · Answer

I know folks who still have real pen pals. Like, paper mail.I would say the practice mostly died out, the same way that chautauquas are no longer a thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chautauqua

vouaobrasil · Answer

You can still find penpals through email and even paper mail. Slowly is a Penpal like app and Pen Pal World is a site I've used too, and some people there specifically want to write paper letters. I've made quite a few friends on these websites/apps.

ksaj · Answer

My sister and I text via SMS pretty much constantly. That's pretty low tech, and a lot like pen pals, in terms of content and style. We live in different provinces, so it's what we do.

taubek · Answer

I would say social networks. I remember pen pal days. There were like fanzines with mail addresses from all over the world.

rdtwo · Answer

Discord