電腦沒有普及的時代，想要跟外面世界的人交流不是很容易，很多人都通過筆友來認識外面的世界。到了現在，無論你身處何地，只要有互聯網，你就可以了解世界。當然，筆友這個傳統還是被保留了下來，不過溝通媒介發生了變化。

　　Pen pals (or penpals or pen friends) are people who regularly write to each other, particularly via postal mail.

　　筆友就是對那些定期通過郵政信件彼此聯絡的人們的稱呼。

　　A penpal relationship is often used to practice reading and writing in a foreign language, to improve literacy, to learn more about other countries and life-styles, and to make friendships.

　　筆友多用來提高外語閱讀和寫作能力、增長知識、了解其他國家和不同的生活方式，以及用來交朋友。

　　A modern variation on the traditional penpal arrangement is to have a keypal. People can use the keyboard to talk to each other through emails or instant messengers instead of writing paper letters. This has the advantage of saving money and being more immediate, allowing many messages to be exchanged in a short period of time. But people may rely too much on instant communication and lose their real-life communication skills.

　　傳統筆友的現代版本就是交一個“鍵友”或“網友”。人們可以敲擊鍵盤通過電子郵件或即時通訊工具跟彼此交流，不用再寫紙質信件了。這樣做的好處是省錢、即時，在短時間內就可以互通很多信息。不過，人們也可能因為過度依賴即時交流方式而逐漸喪失在現實世界的溝通技能。