JUST as I drive a car, sometimes use the bus, cycle, and walk places, so too I use the phone, and text and email, and write letters.

Helen Mead (Column, April 23) is right to draw attention to the tendency for us to let go of the art of letter writing because it is an act of communication between people that has virtues of its own – in the composition of thought by the writer, and the pleasure of the reader.

Sometimes a text or a phone call or email is just the ticket, but let’s make time for the therapeutic and worthwhile effort of putting thoughts into words on paper and posting them in a letter.

It’s more than just a communication – it’s a thoughtfully composed gift to another that they can hold in their hands, long after the transient electronic message.

It’s also the case that there are many who do not have the means to text or send an email, so let’s not let go off writing and sending a letter.

David Lippiatt, Southfields Road, Strensall, York.