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Letter-writing: Connection in disconnected times
May 20, 2020
"This Zoom stuff doesn't cut it."
That's how the writer Lionel Shriver described communicating with friends and family during lockdown, summarising many of our frustrations.
While the coronavirus pandemic has presented challenges in all areas of our lives, the lack of human contact is one of the hardest. But for some, it has been a time to get creative about how we keep in touch and has prompted a return to a more traditional medium: letters.
As the lockdown was introduced in the Republic of Ireland in late March, the postal service, An Post, sent each household two free stamps and postcards to encourage people to write to each other. It has since reported an increase in non-business, person-to-person mail.
Riona Nolan, a 17-year-old student from County Carlow, used the opportunity to cut back on social media and instead put pen to paper.
"You have to really think about what you're going to write instead of just shooting a text with a few words in it," she says. Riona regularly exchanges letters with her friend, who lives just around the corner, and also writes to her grandmother.
Riona says it is a far more personal, authentic form of communication. It's also a welcome change from the bills and taxes that people usually receive through the letterbox.
But what does she write about when we are all stuck inside?
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