When was the last time you sent a handwritten letter to a friend or loved one, or received one in the mail?
Before the digital age, it was commonplace to receive a handwritten letter from a pen pal, a postcard from overseas, or annual handwritten Christmas cards.
But text messages, emails, memes, social media and emojis have become our communication of choice these days, virtually banishing the art of letter writing to the past for many.
Melbourne-based leadership and communications consultant Renne Giarrusso said receiving a handwritten note in the mail showed somebody had taken the time to think of us.
"When you're going through your mail and you see something handwritten mixed in with your bills, it's always the first thing that you open," she said.
"Nostalgia is coming back, vinyl records and tapes are coming back, I'm hoping that something like letter writing is also going to come back."
For Ms Giarusso, letters her father wrote to her as a child are among her most prized possessions.
"My dad passed away when I was quite young and I have a box of letters that he wrote," she said.
"If he wrote them now in the digital age, I would have nothing from him. Instead, I now have this legacy that he has left.
"You can't put an email on the mantelpiece."
Benefits for mental health
Mental health organisation Beyond Blue teamed up with Australia Post in September to deliver 3 million free blank postcards.
The postcards were distributed in the hope that Australians would use them to show family and friends they were thinking of them.
Since 2020, 7 million postcards have been delivered through the initiative to households across Australia. They include mental health and wellbeing tips, as well as contact details for the Beyond Blue support service.
Beyond Blue lead clinical adviser Grant Blashki said recent events, including drought, bushfires, floods and the COVID-19 pandemic, had led many people to feel isolated.
He said postcards provided a way to connect.
"We know that connecting with family and friends can play an important role in coping with life's challenges," Dr Blashki said.
"There's something tangible about postcards when people express their feelings and appreciation in handwritten form, rather than the often fleeting digital messages that characterise these times."
As well as benefits for the postcard recipient, Dr Blashki said there were also "plenty of benefits for the writer".
"The reflective and heartfelt process of putting pen to paper, as people have done for millennia with letter-writing, is an ancient art often forgotten these days," he said.
Hope in a letter
Another initiative, Letters of Hope, was started by Abbie Williams in 2018 after she move to Australia from the United Kingdom the previous year.
"My grandparents used to send me handwritten notes to stay in touch," she said.
"I've struggled with my mental health and I noticed the impact that opening one of my handwritten letters would have and how good it made me feel.
"I've been passionate about mental health and wanted to do something in that space to make a difference."
Letters of Hope invites people to register if they are struggling or feeling lonely, at which point volunteers will write positive letters to them.
"It helps the writers as well, as it feels like you are putting some good back into the world," Ms Williams said.
"Being able to support someone who is struggling and comfort them with some kind words is very special."
She said the act of putting pen to paper also helped with her own mental health.
"We are in such a technological world now; it's so quick and easy to type something out and hit send," Ms Williams said.
"When you put pen to paper, you have to be present in that moment. It makes everything else in your mind fade away for that small amount of time.
She said it had become a "dying art".
"Writing feels like you're putting something tangible out there into the world," Ms Williams said.
Writing to 'look back on'
Australian author and journalist Alicia Young launched the 12 Stamps Project in the hope of harnessing the written word and boosting literacy in a digital age.
"We are asking people to buy 12 stamps and to commit to sending 12 handwritten notes over the next 12 months," she said.
"It can be as simple as a thank-you note, or it can be a note to boost and encourage someone, or just to say that I see the difference that that you're making.
"When someone takes time to sit down and write, it gives us pause that they took the time to sit down and write and it's something that we can look back on for years to come."
