As Valentine’s Day came and went this year, I couldn’t help thinking how the idea of romance for young lovers has changed in the last 20 years or so.
I also couldn’t help feeling sorry for that fellow in Kenya who sent an SMS to a radio personality in which he declared his feelings only to be not just rejected but charged in court with “improper use of a licensed telecommunication system.”
That would never have happened in the days of unsigned Valentine’s Day cards.
In today’s “I want it now!” culture, the poor post office is struggling to keep afloat as most people turn to text messages and email to send their billet doux (love letters). Rightly so I say, seeing as over the years the postal service in most countries seems to have remained slow and unreliable, despite the advances in technology elsewhere.
In fact, as I researched my facts for this article I went on to the Postal Corporation of Kenya website to see how long it would take for a letter posted in Nairobi to get to another part of the country, but I was disappointed as the PCK did not think it was important enough a subject to remark upon. Instead on the site’s FAQ page, the only question about mail delivery times was: “How long does it take for mail sent from Nairobi to reach Europe?” The answer was a very non-committal: “Depending with the exact destination, normal mail would take at most seven days. With expedited Mail (EMS) it would take two to three days.”
What I did find out though, was that within the UK, first class mail takes one to two days to reach any destination. Locally and in South Africa, they have the Fastmail service which promises a one-day delivery service in the same city or town.
Actually if you think about it for the 400 odd years that the idea of Valentine’s has been in existence, the biggest changes to how feelings of love were communicated have happened in the last 15 years or so when text messaging really took off.
Meanwhile, the idea of mailing cards only became popular in Victorian England with the arrival of what was known as the penny post, when the idea of postal services became more egalitarian, as it were. Before then, most valentine's cards would have been hand delivered.
I can bet at the time things changed from hand delivered to postal, some curmudgeon was bemoaning the death of the old ways and going on about how impersonal the postal system was in matters of the heart.
I guess the majority of modern lovers today find it easier to reach out for their mobile phones to send an “I Luv U” message by text, or possibly email.
Of course back in the day, Valentine's cards were often anonymous leading to loads of fun guessing who the “secret admirer” who sent the card was. Today I think many would find an anonymous card or a text from an unknown number kind of creepy.
Matters are not helped along in Kenya where, for example, the Information Communication Act of 2009, CAP 411 A Section 29 prohibits improper use of a system by sending a message or other matter that is false offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing character.
Love letters should be none of the above things – but let’s face it, in a time when offence seems to be lurking in the next sentence, an unexpected avowal of love from a stranger might be taken to be offensive, indecent, obscene and menacing all in one.
Follow me on Twitter @MwangiGithahu