In this age of instant messaging, voice notes, and endless scrolling, the once-intimate act of letter writing has all but disappeared.
Once the backbone of human connection - used for love, loss, politics, and poetry - letters have been replaced by texts, emails, and social media interactions.
But has something been lost in this transition?
The fall in the volume of post was cited as one of the reasons why the price of a stamp went up earlier this month - an increase of 25 cent to €1.65.
According to An Post, half as many letters are being sent in Ireland, compared to a decade ago.
Now, 93% of all mail is generated by businesses or Government bodies, leaving just 7% as personal letters and cards.
Yet, letters have played a pivotal role in shaping Ireland's history.
Flor MacCarthy, author of The Presidents’ Letters: An Unexpected History of Ireland, has studied how letters sent from and to Áras an Uachtaráin captured defining moments in Irish and global history.
"Some of Ireland’s most significant moments were documented in letters like President Éamon de Valera sending a letter to the moon," Ms MacCarthy explains.
"The earliest letter in the collection is the invitation to Douglas Hyde to become the first President of Ireland and the most recent letter is President Higgins wishing Bob Dylan a happy birthday when they both turned 80.
"There are the letters I expected to find between Presidents and other heads of state around the world and then there are love letters, letters of loss and begging letters and letters written from people around Ireland to their President like the child from Dundalk writing to President Mary Robinson in 1992 before she visited Somalia asking her 'to mind yourself," Ms MacCarthy adds.
Some letters are also deeply personal.
The Imirce project at University of Galway is an online database of historian Kerby A. Miller’s collection of Irish emigrant letters and memoirs from North America.
The letters date from 1680 to the 1990s with members of the public invited to contribute additional emigrant letters and life stories to the university’s digital collection.
Marie-Louise Rouget, a digital archivist for the collections, highlights the emotional weight these letters carried.
"Irish people have been crossing the Atlantic for hundreds of years. Our collection sheds light on 300 years of that experience, Ms Rouget explains.
"There are examples of people who are writing about family feuds or family disputes. There are examples of people who are writing with great nostalgia and homesickness because they're really missing the people and the places back home," Ms Rouget adds.
And then, there are letters that transcend time.
Benedict Schlepper-Connolly, Head of Exhibitions at MoLI (Museum of Literature Ireland), points to one of the most powerful letters ever written by an Irishman:
"We love letters at MoLI. Right now, we're working on a new film installation of Oscar Wilde's De Profundis. The exhibition is opening 7 March.
"I think De Profundis, at its 50,000 odd words, is one of he most significant letter ever written. It says so much about the time, about Oscar Wilde as an artist, Oscar Wilde as a person.
Wilde had been imprisoned for, as they called it then, gross indecency. Perhaps, for one of the first times, he can be more open about the things he had already been convicted for".
So what does the younger generation - those digital natives - make of the idea of letter writing?
Students at University College Dublin have mixed feelings.
I feel like there are so many quicker ways of communicating with people nowadays, so there's no point really," says Amr Abdalla.
"Personally, I have never sent a letter in my life to anybody," says Ronan Carney.
"I'd send a card to someone if they lived in another country," says Ailís Cherry-Kinito.
Despite the decline in letter writing, some still cherish the act of sending and receiving one.
"When you're visiting a nice place, it's nice to send a postcard that has the authenticity of that place. I think there's still a nice ritual around it," says Ellen Gavigan.
"My boyfriend sometimes sends me letters. I really like it. I like how people can express themselves in lettes and you can reread them and you have a nice place in your room, a special place for them," says Lucia Alonso.
For others, letters offer something that digital communication never will.
"I'll be leaving, perhaps, a small archive of my own letters, but am I going to put in my will, 'Here's the password to my email?' Probably not!" Flor MacCarthy notes.
Imirce's Marie-Louise Rouget adds: "If you are somebody who has never sent a letter, I would really encourage you to do so. They are wonderful and beautiful to receive.
Watch our video to see more on the lost art of letter writing.
