Voices is the Dorset Echo's weekly youth page - written for young people by young people.

This week James Sullivan looks back on the nostalgic pastime of letter writing.

Once upon a time people were only be able to communicate by writing letters but today there are many other ways to communicate with one another whether via social media, emailing, texting or picking up the phone.

These newer methods have been a great success because they are hassle-free, quick, easy and mainly free.

However, good as this is, the traditional way of writing letters is slowly becoming redundant and may one day cease to exist.

I think that this would be terrible because to me, a letter means something more than any other mode of communication.

It shows you have put time, thought and effort into wanting to speak to the person you are writing to.

In an age of convenience writing a letter forces us to stop and spend time on people who we may not be able to be physically close to.

Ultimately, if you make this time they will think more of you, building happier relationships.

People lead busy lives today and would probably struggle to write letters but writing letters can be cathartic.

People need to stop and think about themselves and others because it is easy to forget to relax.

By James Sullivan