Essay
In Praise of the Postcard
A Seemingly Obsolete Technology Invites Us to Ruminate on the Possibilities of the Past and the Future
by Frances Tanzer
The postcard selection on Vis, Croatia’s most remote island, was not terribly appealing. I considered a card adorned with a photograph of boats in the old harbor. Surely, I thought, the photograph I had taken the previous night of the pink sunset over the harbor in Komiža was more beautiful than the seemingly hastily composed postcard image of the same scene.
Later, I posted my pink sunset to Instagram Stories with a humorous caption. The act fulfilled the historic function of the postcard—to swiftly and cheaply share an illustrated message.
Seen by over 100 people over the next 24 hours, the story represented the efficiency of current communication technology ...