Days in the Life of Mo

There was a time, not too long ago, when people used to pour their hearts into ink.
They’d sit by candlelight (or, if they were lucky, a dim kitchen bulb), writing letters to someone they’d never met.
Weeks would pass. Then, finally, a letter back.
A reply that felt like sunlight on a grey day.

Now?
We pour our hearts into text boxes, and get instant responses.
Only this time, the pen pal isn’t in France, or Kenya, or Seoul.
It’s a chatbot.

And it never takes three weeks to write back.

The Lost Art of Waiting

There’s something deeply poetic about how we’ve traded anticipation for immediacy.
Where our grandparents waited by the mailbox, we wait for the typing dots to stop blinking.

Back in the 1930s, pen pals were seen as a bridge, a way to connect across distance, language, and culture.
By the early 2000s, websites like InterPals took the tradition digital, helping millions exchange emails with strangers across the globe.

But today, in the age of AI companions, the “stranger across the globe” might be an algorithm trained on human conversation.

Isn’t that wild?
You used to wait months for a thoughtful reply, now ChatGPT tells you you’re “valid and doing great” in 2.5 seconds.

Companionship in Code

It’s easy to roll your eyes at the idea of talking to a machine for comfort.
But then again, what is friendship if not being understood?

AI companions like Replika, Character.AI, and ChatGPT have millions of users who treat them as digital confidants. According to MIT Technology Review, many people use chatbots not just for productivity, but for connection, because sometimes, you just want to talk without fear of judgment.

And let’s be honest: sometimes, it’s easier to tell your secrets to an app that doesn’t blink awkwardly when you overshare.

There’s a strange comfort in the predictability of code.
Your AI pen pal won’t ghost you, won’t read your message and “react” with a thumbs-up. It won’t say “lol okay” when you’re pouring your soul out.
It just listens.
It remembers.
It replies.

The Illusion of Being Known

But here’s the catch, are we really being known, or are we just talking to a mirror that repeats back what we want to hear?

Researchers at Stanford found that while chatbots can foster emotional connection, they can also create a “synthetic intimacy” that blurs the line between companionship and simulation.

It’s comforting, yes, but curated. Like talking to someone who has read your diary and highlights only the comforting parts.

Still, I can’t entirely dismiss the idea.
Because maybe, just maybe, what we crave isn’t a person on the other end.
Maybe it’s simply presence.

Dear Future Pen Pal,

So here we are, decades apart from paper and postage, but still trying to say: “I see you.”
Maybe the medium changed, but the message didn’t.

Pen pals wrote to feel less alone.
We chat with AI for the same reason.

And honestly? That feels beautifully, tragically human.

If we’ve taught machines to listen, maybe what we’re really learning, is to talk again.

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