As Old Traditions Die....

I came across two interesting articles this morning.  They are a bit related though maybe not quite as obviously as one might expect.

First is this article here, which talks about how no one writes in Cursive anymore.  I've never much looked into the history of handwriting but I know that I personally don't write much manuscript style.  I pretty much use block print for everything.  I even went through a phase during high school where I wrote everything in all caps because I liked the look better.  the most interesting thing I didn't know in this article was that script predates "print".  Not "print" as in news paper print but print as in "not cursive".

This makes sense though.  If things started to decline when books came about, then it also makes sense that it would decline even more with computers and iPhones.  I personaly don't care for script because it varies too much from person to person.  I used to get irritated when my mom would write script notes and I couldn't read her handwriting.

While we're on the subject of traditions the internet is killing off, here's another article that has to do with the dying Postal Service.

They mention of course the rise in email and cell phones and text messaging of course.  There are some other factors to possibly consider.  I personally, don't care much for holidays and don't sent out too many random cards.  I find often that some fo these underlying sentiments are reflected in others.  So I guess the point is there may also simply be a decline in "extra/pointless mail".  Also people are so sick of junk mail which likely isn't very effective anyway so that industry is declining or moving online as well.

Then there is a third article from a few days ago.  More of the results fo a survey from the website Lifehacker.com.  This has to do with a more modern "tradition".  In the past, it was always beleived that desktop based email was grossly superior to web based email.  In the past, this was true.

However modern programming techniques have caused the interface and design for webmail to grow by leaps and bounds.  Yahoo Mail looks very much like Outlook Express and Gmail's own slick interface isn't too far off.  According to the results of thier survey, Web Based email is on the rise.

Now, there is a bit of an issue with this survey.  Lifehacker tends to promote web based email and portability in lifestyle, whcih means it's audience is more likely to be "into" these sorts of things.  Still, I used to tell people they wanted to use Outlook Express or the Netscape Messenger.  Now I just recommend Gmail.  I don't use any sort of desktop basd email other than an ocasionall backup.

It's interesting to watch old tradition die to be replaced by new ones.