I like you, do you like me? Check yes or no.”
The nerves, the anticipation, the emotions of first love all mixed into a simple saying as that person scribbles down an answer and passes it back.
Penning love letters on Valentine’s Day, has become obsolete in the era of technology. Between texting “luv u” and tweeting about one’s significant other, the pleasure of a handwritten love letter is largely lost.
It may seem a little spark has disappeared along the way between the time of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 and today’s process of picking a Valentine on Feb. 14.
As society progressed from the time of St. Valentine, these letters were replaced with emails, webcams, and texts. This quicker way of keeping in touch with people’s loved ones has ultimately replaced the time-consuming and old-fashioned love letters of Shakespeare’s day.
“Valentine’s Day has been made a lot less personal because of technology,” junior Lauren Zahner said. “People hide behind a screen instead of saying their feelings face-to-face.”
It is so easy to send text messages to somebody like “take care” or “I love you” anytime of the day, and tweet how much one misses them. And sure, an email can explain the depths to which one loves one’s “Dearest Creature,” but it just doesn’t look the same on the brightly glowing screen as it does scrawled on a scrap of notebook paper.
“Texting in particular takes something away from love,” junior Sabrina Castle said. “You don’t get to feel like that time spent with them wouldn’t be otherwise spent texting; it’s just not the same.”
A survey done by The Daily Telegraph polled 2,558 people and two thirds had never sent a love letter before. Seventy percent of women polled said they would like a letter while 53 percent of men agreed. Sixty-nine percent admitted to having said “I love you” by text message.
“I’ve received love letters before,” Zahner said. “And let me tell those letters meant so much more to me than any text any guy has ever sent me.”
The way the world communicates has certainly changed, and it may be quicker to use email or text, but it does have drawbacks.
“Today, Valentine’s Day is about the flowers, the chocolate and the gifts,” Zahner said. “It doesn’t focus on the couple’s feelings for each other anymore.”
Showing love to others has certainly changed, from Valentine’s Day, to the great bard himself. People become less worried whether to text “I love you” or write it down in cursive.
If Shakespeare were here today, he wouldn’t have time to write Sonnet 18. First, because the sonnet wouldn’t fit in the 140 characters used on a tweet. Second, because it would be a much simpler question: “Yes or No”.
