Do you somtimes look through old letters you’ve kept and reminisce about the past? I recall looking through past letters from penpals and friends and it definitely brought back some fond memories of my childhood. A site called MailFreezr.com is providing a similar exprience by allowing people to send emails to others or even to themselves into the future. You simply write a message to the desired email address and choose the length of time you want to “freeze” your message (between 1 and 99 years) from being sent.

I think it would definitely be neat to send yourself emails from the past and just reminding your future self things that had happened. Though the concept sounds interesting, I definitely see some flaws:

1) If you decided to have message frozen for “99 years”, people you know probably wouldn’t be alive to read it. What would be the point?

2) How will the creator of the site ensure that MailFreezr.com will exist for that length of time? Presently, there is no solid indication that the hosting of the site or the domain will be maintained for a century. Perhaps they should have options for shorter lengths of time…like months or weeks.

3) I honestly don’t know people who will keep their email more than a couple of years. They either have a new account, new workplace, new school etc…it’ll definitely be tough to deliver that email to the recipient 50 years from now.

4) Who knows if there even will be email 100 years from now? Perhaps people from the future may find better methods of communication and render email obsolete (like how emails have replaced telegraphs from the past).

Even with all the minor flaws, I think the creator is on to something with the “time-capsole” emails since there are always people who are nostalgic and love looking back into their past. What would be really freaky is if you sent a message years from now to your family and you (God forbid) pass on, it would be a touching reminder to your loved ones. Perhaps I should send myself a message like this:

Dear Future Stephen,

Please find a way to send the Lotto 6/49 numbers to yourself in the past…You’ll definitely enjoy having $16 million dollars in your pocket! =)

Thanks in Advance!

Stephen from the Past

-Stephen