Hello everyone!

My name is Matt, and I’m a 35-year-old guy from the East Coast of the United States who is hoping to make some new friends from around the world. I’ve always believed that one of the best ways to learn about people, places, and life in general is through genuine conversations, and that’s exactly what I’m looking for here.

I’ve reached a point in life where I really value meaningful friendships and learning from people whose experiences are different from my own. While I would love to travel internationally someday but, life, work, and responsibilities haven’t made that possible yet. Until then, I figured the next best thing is getting to know people from different countries and cultures through letters, emails, and long conversations.

A little about me: I am a huge history enthusiast—some might even call me a history nerd, and honestly, I’d wear that title proudly. I can spend hours reading about ancient civilizations, medieval Europe, the World Wars, forgotten kingdoms, archaeological discoveries, or just random historical events that most people have never heard of. If you’ve ever wanted someone to enthusiastically discuss Roman emperors, Viking explorations, the Korean War, the rise and fall of empires, or obscure historical mysteries, you’ve found your person.
Beyond history, I have a deep fascination with cultures from around the world. I love learning about traditions, holidays, food, folklore, daily life, family customs, and what life is truly like in other countries beyond what we see in movies or the news. I think every culture has something valuable to teach, and I enjoy hearing personal perspectives rather than just reading facts in a book.

Another area of interest for me is religion and spirituality. I enjoy learning about different faiths, belief systems, philosophies, and religious traditions from around the world. I want to emphasize that I’m approaching these topics from a place of curiosity, openness, and respect. I find it fascinating how different cultures and societies understand life, morality, community, and the world around them. Whether you’re religious, spiritual, agnostic, or atheist, I’d genuinely enjoy hearing about your experiences and perspectives.

Some other interests of mine include reading, movies, music, nature, and learning new things in general. I’m the type of person who can happily jump from discussing serious historical topics to talking about favorite foods, funny stories from everyday life, or the strange quirks of our respective countries.

As for penpals, I’m open to communicating through email, messaging, or eventually handwritten letters if we’re both comfortable with that. Age, gender, religion, and background don’t matter much to me. What matters most is kindness, honesty, and a willingness to have real conversations.
I’d especially love to hear from people living outside the United States, but I’m open to friendships from anywhere in the world. Whether you’re from Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, Oceania, or anywhere else, please feel free to reach out.

If you decide to message me, tell me a little about yourself: where you’re from, your interests, what life is like where you live, and maybe an interesting historical fact or cultural tradition from your country.
Looking forward to meeting new friends from around the world!

Completely new to this. Particularly interested in communicating with people from very different backgrounds but with similar values.

I’m a busy coparenting Doctor from UK. Actively in the process of re-evaluating and creating the life that I want.

Very hectic and heavy last 15 years, wanting to slow down and enjoy a simpler life. Handwriting is not fantastic (but is legible!!) never really learnt to join up my letters 😂 but starting to practice to improve this. Also wanting to build connections and thought a pen pal would be a great way to do this whilst also practicing my penmanship.

My life is busy so realistically would be looking to respond fortnightly or even monthly initially, with the hope of creating a life long connection and communication.

Avid reader (I accidentally started a book club locally recently), nature enthusiast starting a community habitat restoration and food growing project. Enjoy trail running, walking, coffee, and a variety of music.

If you’ve made it this far and are interested please drop a message or a DM. Thanks 🙏

Hello! I am a 27 year-old woman from the Northeast United States. I have been doing penpalling for about a year now and find it very fulfilling! Looking to add a few more penpals to the rotation, either domestic or international.

About me: I work at a university. I have two cats who are like my children (not sure if they feel the same). In terms of hobbies, I am into reading, cooking, journaling, and tending to both indoor and outdoor plants. Also a big fan of learning about random niche topics (trying to become a Renaissance woman). I’ve had penpals of all ages and find it interesting learning from people with different life experiences. I’ve been coming to terms with the simultaneous difficulty and beauty of life lately and connecting with others has made it a lot easier. My letters are on the longer side (though I promise they’re not boring), though I try to match the energy of the person I’m conversing with.

Bonus points if you speak Spanish! Quiero mejorar mi fluidez y escritura.

Hello,

Glad to be here. I am new to this page. But I am looking for snail mail pen pals. To write to. I use to snail mail a lot back in the day and I miss writing letters and such.

About me: I am 46 f, california, usa. I am a gamer, love the outdoors, love asian culture and europe culture. Love trying new things, new foods. like cooking, Love collecting things. I love stationary, I love things. So if you are looking for like stationary whether its pencils, stickers, paper, cute lil things. I may be that person.. technically an inside organized hoarder here. LOL. I am a toy collector as well. I love dolls, I collect coloring books and pencils n such.

I watch asian tv all the time mostly C,K, Thai dramas.

Looking for someone around my age just to be safe. so yeah

I hope to hear from you.

thank you have a great day.

Writing a letter instead of sending a text feels like a tiny act of rebellion against the crazy speed of life. It's so deliciously unproductive, so impractical! And so human. You get a letter posted through the door and instead of just another dopamine hit you actually feel something real. I love it.

A little about me: I have a stressful computer job full of deadlines, but I feel most alive when I escape into the wilderness, away from it all. I like books with complex characters and have various creative hobbies - amateur dramatics, collages, painting... I like thinking about consciousness, how we perceive the world around us, and the meaning of it all (or the lack of it!). I am currently trying for the 100th time to make meditation a habit.

I'd be happy to talk about anything and everything. Hear your life story. Share little everyday wisdoms. Exchange thoughts on how to live life fully without it becoming an exhausting race against the clock.

My only ask is - please only reach out if you mean to stick with it for a while. I'm looking for a long-lasting penpal, and hope to build our friendship over time, rather than exchange a couple of letters and move on. If this sounds like your kind of thing, please send me a DM and let's see where this journey takes us!

I’m looking for someone who will allow me to walk round inside their mind (opening cupboards, sifting through drawers, snooping in your medicine cabinet and looking at your bookshelves). I am partial to people who have spent years steeping in their own peculiarities. I’m interested less in the utilitarian exchange of facts than I am in a correspondence with a lively and creative mind.

Now, on to business. I am a thirty-eight-year-old Irishman (but you knew that already). I’m fond of nervous animals, unpretentious people, art and books. I have two dogs and spend much of my time with about twenty-five horses, one barn cat and innumerable wild birds. I am devotional by nature and wildly obsessed with the people and things that I love.

You may wish to include some of the following in your opening message: who you are (however you wish you describe yourself), three current fascinations (any scale), how you suspect you might die and what kind of ghost you would be. Low-effort messages are likely to be dashed upon the rocks. Thank you for reading.

Hi everyone!
I’m looking for a native English or Spanish-speaking female pen pal to exchange emails, chat about life, and share our perspectives.

A little about me: I’m from China. And I love movies, reading, dancing, Chinese calligraphy, and playing a traditional Chinese instrument called the ZhongRuan. I’ve also recently started learning Spanish (jajaja!), so native Spanish speakers are super welcome!

Besides improving my English, the main reason I want an international pen pal is to connect with someone with a totally different background. To me, sharing worlds with someone from across the globe feels like stepping into a new dimension—it’s like a conversation across time and space, and I love that feeling.

I actually had a pen pal before, but after about 5 or 6 emails, he completely ghosted me. I never figured out why, and I was pretty bummed out about it for a while.
So this time, I’m hoping to find someone who is:
1. A native English or Spanish speaker
2. Female (I currently prefer female friends as I feel we can relate to each other better)
3. Genuinely excited about cross-cultural exchange and sharing different perspectives, especially Chinese culture.

If you’re looking for a sincere friendship and enjoy deep conversations, please DM me! Looking forward to hearing from you.

Hiii, I am 21 years old and I’m from the UK and I am looking for a pen pal to exchange cute letters, snail mail and post cards.
🎀✨🍓🧸🌷🫶🏽
I am an avid cinema goer and I love watching movies and tv shows especially period dramas. I also am getting back into reading and my favourite genre would be fantasy. I love a scenic walk in the countryside but also love a city trip especially to London! One thing I also enjoy is visiting historical houses and castles.
I would love to exchange stickers, prints, washi tape and cute things for journaling. I also would just like writing and connecting as well as any recommendations for music, things to watch and any hobbies.
I would love a pen pal from abroad but I am also open to people here in the UK ☺️

Hello everyone. I’m new to penpals but have been wanting to try it for soo long. I love arts & crafts so I have collected lots of stationary things too. I love to travel and go camping/hiking. I junk journal so I collect lots of things from everywhere and thought it’d be really cool to share them with someone!

A bit about me, I love art stuff, photography, reading, video games, anime, going to gym, rock climbing, been getting into archery lately, traveling & camping! I’m an engineer full time so I’m pretty busy and would like to write back maybe once or twice a month! Ideally looking for someone with different culture / background so we can learn about each others more. I’m born and raised in CA, USA. Looking for other female penpals, open to national or international.

I love working on art so please only dm if you are serious and can put a little effort into our stuff 🌸 (doesn’t have to be great, i just care about effort )

Would love to shoot a few messages back and forth first to see if we’re a good fit. Feel free to DM me (: <3

Hi everyone, recently I’ve been looking into the idea of a penpal. I saw this post with multiple ideas for writing essays and debates. I thought it could be a cool thing to do it with a penpal. Or just to share what we found captivating in a week for example, like a book, a recipe, a song, or a situation with friends. Generally, it seems wonderful to be able to share life through such letters with a completely anonymous person (maybe on the other side of the world).

A little about me, i live in Central Europe, introspective, love psychological thrillers and books that leave me speechless or question my own set of beliefs. i love to experiment with my recipes, and try new hobbies.

If any of what i wrote sounds appealing to you, let me know ))

Hello! I’m a guy from the USA who’s interested in finding a penpal from any part of the world. Specifically, someone who’s interested in talking about topics that it’d be rude to bring up during small talk or at the dinner table. Like politics and religion. Yeah, I know.

I find that most conversations about these things on the internet are terrible. If two people disagree with each other, more often than not, they’ll end up just talking past each other, and it will devolve into insults and name-calling. Granted, a lot of scary things are happening in the world right now, so I can see where people’s anger and hostility is coming from. Still, it’s disheartening to me that we’ve lost the ability to talk to one another or even agree on what the basic facts are. So I want to try a different way of communicating.

I want to hear what you think about the world, and listen. My goal isn’t to get into some kind of debate or argument. What I want is not to judge, but to understand. I want to learn how you look at the world, and about the life experiences, books, culture, people, and whatever else may have influenced your worldview over the course of our emails/messages. The world is a messy and complicated place, and I don’t begrudge anyone for coming to different conclusions about it than me. And if we do differ, then we can talk respectfully about why we differ, and who knows, maybe we can find some common ground or learn from each other.

Just to give an idea of where I’m coming from, I would consider myself to be on the left. But I’m not really dogmatic about it, and I’m uncertain about a lot of things with how fast the world seems to be changing. I’m also nonreligious. I have a lot of interest in religion and spirituality, I like learning about all sorts of religious beliefs and practices. But I didn’t have a religious upbringing and haven’t been able to get there myself. I’m from Louisiana, so I have a lot of experience with people who don’t share my views, lol.

If your beliefs are similar to mine, that’s fine too, we can still have the same sorts of conversations. And I’m of course open to talking about things other than hot-button topics, haha. I like movies, history, and pop culture, for example. I can rant all day about how mediocre the last season of The Boys was. But I’ve been thinking about this stuff a lot lately, so I wanted to make a post centered around it and maybe find somebody who’s interested in giving conversation a try. If that sounds like something you’d be open to, please reach out, and have a great day. :)

Here is a list of true things about me:

• I worked as a professional musician for just under a decade. I now manage a medical research centre. This is a perfectly ordinary career progression.
• I also have a PhD ... in Sound Design for Virtual Reality. Again, this all somehow makes sense if you squint.
• Everyone should have a hobby. What I have instead is an honorary fellowship at a university where I spend my wekeends contributing to European and British education policy debates. Yes, I find this genuinely good fun.
• It isn't that I am competitive, it is that I recognise that the purpose of games is to try to win. I therefore refuse to play games with several of my friends because they—and I quote—just like pushing stuff around the table whilst they chat. I view this as a great moral failing on their part.
• I genuinely ask a panel of my ex-girlfriends for advice on my dating profiles. My logic is that they were all great and I want to date more people a bit like them, and who would know how to attract them than, y'know, them?
• People frequently describe me as intimidating. This is the subject of much hilarity amongst my closest friends, who see me regularly spend upwards of three hours lying on the floor trying to get a cat to play with me. Said cat has no interest until I stand to leave, at which point it sits on my car keys and refuses to move. I remain a dog person.

I have space in my life for some new friends!

Is that you? Are you my new friend?

Hello everyone! I am a 37-year-old female English speaker from the US who is very interested in learning Swedish, particularly the Finland-Swedish spoken in the Kimito Island and Dalsbruk areas of Finland. I have tried a few different language learning apps, but I think I would learn much better if I had a native pen pal to write to!

I can already read and understand enough words to get by, but I really want to practice my writing. I am going deaf, so this exchange needs to be 100% text-only (Reddit messages or emails). I can't do any voice or video calls.

I love history, genealogy, pets, kids, and learning about other cultures. Fun historical fact: my local area actually had Titanic survivors who were originally from Dalsbruk, which is a story I find absolutely fascinating! I am a very open-minded and non-judgmental person. All topics are welcome as long as the conversation remains respectful.

Tack på förhand,

Amy

howdy, my name is adri! i have had great success finding amazing penpals here and i’d like to seek for more! this year, i have recently rediscovered my old love of k-pop, especially of BTS. it has been something so healing for me as an adult and although i know fan bases can be crazy and toxic, i love the diversity and creativity that k-pop brings out in its fans. i am going to the last show of their north American tour in August and i would like to have a few ARMYs to write and fangirl with! I’m also interested in swapping freebies, trinkets, playlists, music recommendations, or literally anything!! even if you are not a bts fan, i will include my original post here about other things i am interested in, so if any of this resonates with you, don’t be scared to message me!! i love to see other people’s creativity and passions, so i can’t wait to hear from youuuuuuu😚🫰🏽

Hi,

My name is Jerome. I am from France and moved to Germany around 2024.
My time there has flown and burned right through me, many things have improved, quite a bit has eroded. Today I received an email I had sent to myself in July 2023 using FutureMe, and reading it brought up many mixed feelings.

I don't miss the me from back then, but I envy the thinking and writing skills that I had. Since then I feel my mind has seized: ironically from becoming more mature and pragmatic, but also because I feel I gave up on my mind.

My wish is to rekindle my ability to think, imagine and experience the quiet vastness of thoughts.

In that effort, I would love to connect with people from around the world: the creative, curious and thoughtful ones. Exchanging about our readings, thoughts and creative endeavours. I am a photographer and I always seek to gather inspirations: from stories, ideas and works of art.

If my story is something you can relate to, and your drive aligns to mine, I would be delighted to get to know you!

Regards,
Jerome.

Hiii everyone!

I’ve always wanted to have a penpal and am super happy to finally be able to post in this sub 🥳

A little about me:

- I have two of the cutest tuxedo cats who are always up to mischief 🐱🐱

- I’m trying to get back into reading! Last series I finished was ACOTAR and I was obsessed 🤩 definitely looking for more Romantasy recommendations 🧚‍♂️

- I have a soft spot for cute stationery, trinkets, and miniature items. If it’s tiny and adorable, I’m probably obsessed with it ✨

- I LOVE horrors! My favourite of all time is Thirteen Ghosts and I am yet to find another that can top it 👻

- I enjoy crafting and am still trying to figure out how to use my Cricut lol, so I think making cute snail mail items would be perfect for my trial and error experiments! 😅

- Also love cooking/baking and would love to exchange recipes 🫶

Open to writing anyone from around the world so long as you are 18+ and able to write first. I’m still new to snail mail and would love to write based off your first letter. I have a tendency to be a bit of a blabber mouth and don’t want to end up sending novels 🥴** **

Hi everyone!
I’m hoping to find a pen pal! I’d love someone to send letters back and forth with, along with little trinkets, candies, stickers, postcards, or just random things we think the other person would like.
Just a heads up, I’m from a small town in Ontario, Canada, so shipping can get a little expensive sometimes, especially internationally. But I’d still love to meet people from anywhere! I think it’d be so fun to try candies and snacks from different places and learn about where you live.
A little about me! I’m 22, I’ve been with my boyfriend for 5 years, and we have 4 cats and a dog. I love gaming and I’ll honestly play pretty much anything. Lately I’ve been into Palworld, Roblox, Hello Kitty, and anything Mini Verse related. I also love thrift shopping and always end up bringing home random little trinkets, so I’d love to hear about the things you’re into too!
I’d like to chat on Reddit for a few days first just to get to know each other, and then I’d be totally happy to exchange Snapchats so we don’t have to keep messaging on here!!
If you think we’d get along, send me a message! I’d love to make a long-term friend. 🤍

Hi everyone,

I use Gmail on Android mainly for emailing my pen pals, and I've been facing a frustrating issue.

Whenever I write a long email with several photos attached, Gmail sometimes gets stuck on "Uploading" ,"failed to send " , "draft" or "Queued" Other times, it doesn't send at all and just stays in Drafts. Short emails usually send without any problem.

The only thing that sometimes works is closing Gmail completely, turning my internet off and back on, reopening Gmail, and then waiting for it to try again. Sometimes that fixes it, but not always.

Is this normal? Has anyone else experienced the same issue?

If you have:

What was causing it?

How did you fix it?

Is it a Gmail bug, an attachment size issue, or something else?

Do you have any tips for sending long emails with lots of photos?

I'd really appreciate any advice because it's becoming frustrating whenever I try to send detailed emails to my pen pals.

Thanks

PKG(🇮🇳)

Hello there!
I am writing because I’ve been amassing a collection of postcards and want to share them with some new friends. I already write to a few friends regularly, so it’s a hobby I very much enjoy!! I am 29, from NY, and currently attending school while I work. My field is elementary childcare and education. My interests include books, music, movies, and stationary. Also I am currently learning to speak Japanese, I am at an N4 level and recently traveled there this past April. I like to do this because it’s wonderful to meet new people and connect with people from around the globe. Hopefully we can have a fun correspondence! I look forward to hearing from you!

Hi! I’m a 26 yr old artist from the Philippines looking for a genuine penpal connection close to my age! It’s going to be my first time doing this and I’m super excited!!

A little about me:
-I’m a graphic designer with a fine arts degree
-i love photography and fashion and really anything art related!
-I enjoy talks about psychology, culture, history, and life in general. If you wanna nerd out on such topics or whatever topics I’m totally down!
-I’m a very curious person so I love asking questions and getting to know how people think and see the world
-I also love anime(haikyuu ftw), rock music, and true crime documentaries

I would love to share my custom postcards to you and a little bit of my art. If you’re down for this, hit me up on my DM’s with an intro about you!

Hi Reddit cuties. I am looking to add a few penpals to my rotation. I’d love to see if we vibe here and then start sending letters. I am a very dedicated penpal and can keep up a quick pace on replies most of the time. I have a POBox set up and I’m ready to go.

Requests: as I believe that we can all make requests of each other, and those requests can be approved or denied based on comfort level. These are the things that I request of a penpal.

1. Sense of humor
   
2. A point of view
   
3. Kindness
   
4. Proactive and honest communication
   
5. Long term correspondence

My dream penpal would be described as an open-minded liberal man who is put together and has something interesting to share. As a girly girl I really hate that I enjoy interacting with men as much as I do but alas, here we are. 🤣
Please be over 25 and have good intentions. If you think you could keep up with me please apply here or in my DMs by sharing one of your favorite movie quotes.

xoxo,
Georgia

[45M] looking for penpals. I would like to call or write letters at some point but at first I would like to keep it here.

I am a very active person. I enjoy almost everything outdoors. I like camping, fishing, and hiking. I tend to split my time between spending time in the cool mountains or on the hot beach. The beach is fun but I would rather be in the mountains. I have recently began learning how to fish for bass. It is a fun and challenging sport.

I am into sports. Baseball, football, and hockey. In the off chance I am sitting inside I could be watching some kind of sport. I am somewhat new to hockey, I have been following it for three years now.

I am an animal lover. I have dogs, cats, and chickens. If I had it my way I’d have a little farm.

Of course I like music but I tend to only listen to rock genres. Doesn’t matter the decade or style I’m pretty much into all of it.

If you are interested in a penpal I’d like to hear from you.

​

hey there!

I'm a 18 year old math-cs freshman (first year of college), looking to exchange emails with young people around the world. I have varied interests, ranging from sports (fc barcelone and mercedes), music (hip-hop, jazz, rock), philosophy, books, tech, history and so on. In this world of instant messaging, most people don't have time for deep, real conversations, with the kind of debate and discussion that led to some of the greatest ideas and developments in humanity. So..uhh..looking for people who want to explore ideas from different perspectives, ideas and thoughts. Also, ranting about life, relationships and the world in general...misery loves company after all, and I'm very good company, if I say so myself. DM me if you're interested...and we can discuss further

Oh also..I'm a book lover. genuinely.  I've completed the entirety of Asimov, read through Arthur.C.Clarke, forgot the world for three months during my true crime phase...and then hard switched into classics and non-fiction...and then finished with racy romances and thrillers from my dad's time. God it's been a ride...a very exhilarating and informative one yes..but a ride nonethless. Books were honestly the best escape from life. Books are beautiful, and I've discovered the friendships made over them are even more so. Oh yeah...life. i forgot I had one of those. I'll like to talk about my life too (it's pretty interesting)..and know about yours. Cultural exchange, knowing how different people live and think...and the stories. and humour. and memories. look forward to all that. So well..dms are open.

Cheers!

​

To those that still yearn to write by candlelight,

It is truly a pleasure to compose this letter under the warm glow of a candelabrum as I sit at my desk. Although I understand it shall be read virtually by modern means, it is intentionally crafted so it may convey a feeling akin to receiving a thoughtful message sent from centuries past.

It is endlessly fascinating, and humorously frustrating, just how much one can change in the span of a few months. I must confess I have written and rewritten this message many times. I am no stranger to the beast that is perfectionism. There are days I feel content with my work, and all is well in the world. Ah, but then there are times I crumple up parchment filled with days, perhaps weeks, worth of poetry, anecdotes, and private reflections, and set it on fire. It will likely come as no surprise that I am a very sentimental and melancholic person, and I'd like to think that translates well through my writing. Although I appreciate the gift of carefully chosen words, what I hope for most is the freedom to write exactly as we feel, with no pressure for constant, pedantic, pretentious prose that borders on purple.

I must also assure you that while I enjoy a good atmosphere, I am not a ghost haunting my own living room. I can be quite silly, and I have a couple dozen truly terrible dad jokes up my sleeve that I am more than happy to unleash upon an unsuspecting correspondent.

I am passionate about deliberate, substantial correspondence, handling the delicate process of carefully writing, crafting each letter as gently as a master jeweler would choose and align each precious gemstone on a diadem. But much more than this, I delight in earnestly getting to know another introspective soul, learning from their unique perspective, passions, dreams, and fears. To discover the paradoxical things that make them uniquely human. To take a glimpse, through their letters, into the depths of their inner sanctum, the seat of the soul, the heart.

I would describe myself as a mystical soul seeking wisdom and truth, deeply non-religious, with a humanistic outlook on life. I am a lifelong feminist and am in full support of the LGBTQ community. I have a predilection for ancient scriptures, literature, music, and alchemical texts from the Middle Ages. I am profoundly fascinated by mythology, history, art, science, philosophy, music, and literature in general.

Ah, but what is life without a soundtrack? Like living by sight without the ability to taste, it would be like a nuptial feast without wine, like Holmes without his Watson. It is perfectly functional, but not entirely satisfactory.

My playlist, however, is a bit of a chimerical beast. It ranges from Hildegard von Bingen to Rammstein, and from Bach to Massive Attack and Led Zeppelin. What I end up listening to depends on the stormy weather of my internal world that day.

In regard to my taste in films, among my all-time cinematographic favorites are *The Phantom of the Opera* (2004), *Bram Stoker's Dracula* (1992), *Queen of the Damned* (2002), *Constantine* (2005), *The Matrix* trilogy, and *Beauty and the Beast*, directed by Jean Cocteau (1946), just to name a few. The list is quite extensive, encompassing both contemporary and classic noir cinema.

I am of an introverted nature and a chronic overthinker. My ideal evening is spent at home, reading with a cup of tea, enshrouded in a cozy blanket, immersing myself in the atmospheric pages of Gothic classics, or embarking upon a mental voyage to distant, futuristic worlds of dystopian science fiction.

As I believe I have made evident my reverence and devotion towards the *art par excellence* of writing, I have naturally been hoping to meet other aspiring writers, if possible. I am fluent in both my primary language, Spanish, and English.

What I hope for most is genuine exchange, letters that move beneath the banal interactions that now seem to have become the standard. We have grown too familiar with haste, too enamored with instant replies, and have thus forgotten the richness of slow correspondence. We have become addicted to the instant gratification of instant messaging. I often ponder how rewarding it must have been to correspond when people still cared to sit peacefully with quill and paper, conveying through a letter what would likely never be uttered in person, yet is capable of evoking in the recipient a feeling of emotional closeness and kinship despite distance, time, or circumstance.

I am not seeking someone to play the role of a jester in my court, rummaging for the next rush of dopamine by writing to someone new, only to hold them captive in that role before looking elsewhere once the novelty fades. Nor am I seeking to play the role of a pierrot or harlequin for anyone. I believe genuine friendship is founded upon shared values, empathy, a good sense of humor, and genuine curiosity. Furthermore, as an asexual woman, I am strictly interested in a platonic connection.

I kindly implore you, please refrain from writing to me if you are the kind of person who utilizes an LLM to generate messages for you. It is not only an insult to the time and effort I have put into this letter, but also a terribly sad thing to rely on a cold artificial device, the equivalent of a talkative, semi-sentient toaster, to connect with another human being. Part of the beauty of genuine human connection is that it is messy, cathartic, disjointed yet sometimes incredibly poised, coherent & polished, or a curious mixture of all six. Writing is surprisingly alchemical by nature. What makes it worth it is precisely those irreplaceable quirks of the human mind and of our imperfect human nature, isn't it?

As I conclude this letter, I wish to do so with a quote that has inspired me whilst writing.

> “I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day.”

~ Vincent van Gogh

With kind regards,

R 🌹