COMMENTARY: The return of the handwritten letter

By Tom Purcell Cagle Cartoons Newspaper Syndicate September 2, 2026 - 9:00 pm Younger generations are driving an old-fashioned comeback: handwritten letters. According to Business Insider, Gen Z and millennials, tired of the emptiness of digital life, are driving a full-blown letter-writing renaissance. They’re joining snail-mail and pen-pal clubs. They’re writing to old friends. They’re trading pen-pal addresses on TikTok and Instagram, and they’re devoting time to write and decorate envelopes — and wait weeks for handwritten replies that provide a simple human connection emails can never match. We all love what digital technology has allowed us to do. I’m able to keep in touch with more friends than I ever could have with traditional letters. Every now and then I am able to track down a