In the age of COVID-19, there are virtual parties, virtual conferences and virtual commencements — but sometimes, doing things digitally just doesn't cut it.
Some UNC students have decided to keep up with campus friendships “the old fashioned way”: by writing letters.
“I started writing letters when I got home,” Brooklyn Avery, a sophomore majoring in communication studies, said. “I feel like sending and receiving letters is a tangible way to connect with and love my friends during this hard time, especially feeling so disconnected and detached from school.”
Avery said she has sent roughly 15 letters to friends, some who she knows well and others she does not.
“It's helping me connect with my UNC friends because we did life together at UNC, but now our lives are pretty separated,” Avery said. “It's nice to give them a rundown or update on my life without communicating every single day, because that's harder and it's more demanding than it was at school.”
Bekah Pounds, a senior majoring in psychology, said she has been writing letters since about week two of quarantine. She said she prefers letters to digital communication, and thinks they are a better expression of feelings and personality.
“Especially now, when we are consumed in digital things in a situation where we have to be, I think letters provide something that's different in a communal aspect,” Pounds said. “You genuinely know someone cares about you enough to take the time out of their day to write a letter.”
Pounds said she has sent roughly seven letters — most of them to UNC friends during her final weeks as a UNC student.
“I knew so many friends that I was not going to be able to see in my final weeks of senior year and just wanted to encourage people in any way I could,” Pounds said.
