Letter to Ann

Dear Ann,

            I heard that you wanted to learn how people communicate where I’m from and I would be more than happy to tell you!

To begin I must inform you about a little invention we have over here called electricity and it lets us do fantastic things. These can be reading in the dark, being able to walk at night without a lamp, and we don’t have to use whale oil even! It’s rather nice and I’m sure it will be available soon enough to you as well, but with this electricity it also allows us to communicate very far distances with a device we call the phone. These phones can be big, small, wide, or thin, and look like a bar of soap or a small box. They are all over the place here and people use them to talk to anyone they want to at any time! That’s pretty impressive compared to the telegraphs you’re used to and they too will probably be just as successful with the people over there as well.

            So Ann they’re a couple more things that we use here to communicate and they all reside within a very special box, the computer. This device is powered by electricity, much like the phone, and it can seem almost like magic to people because it’s a one stop place to talk to anyone and everyone you know! It sounds impossible I know, but ill paint you a picture of how exactly this box can do such a thing. So a computer is like if you put a farmer’s market into a milk crate and had it in your home. Can’t see it yet? I understand, I’ll elaborate some more. So when people turn on this box they see what people are doing, now this doesn’t show the person physically, maybe a picture is all that you’d see, but this can take minutes to do compared to months from a letter. You can also talk with people on the computer in the form of a letter or note inside of it that they get almost immediately. Now writing to your mother is in a matter of minuets’ by using your phone or computer. The main way people here talk with each other on the computer though is through social media. These places are like newspapers but they change all the time and people can go on at any time and talk about pretty much anything. They can let people write for a very long time or just small parts of conversations. These places can also help people come together to work towards a similar issue, such as women’s rights, and can make real world changes. I don’t think I have enough space to explain exactly how this item works, but it operates much easier as anyone and everyone can use one all the same no matter where you come from or who you are, they have them in libraries and schools so really everyone here has experience with computers.

            People still primarily talk with one another like they always have, but people just talk a lot more to each other than they did where you’re from just because of how easy it is for most people here. Everyone is closer and making plans to go and see people has never been easier. Now this does seem like a lot to take in and I understand if you’re are a little confused, but you will start to see some of these fantastic inventions start making their way over there in no time I’m sure, much like electricity, these will be instant hit and have the same impact they had here. Hopefully this was usefully to you as a quick rundown of what we devices we primarily use to communicate and sort of how they work to do just that. Don’t go telling people about these, it will ruin the surprise for them.

Sincerely,

Luke