Abstract

Historically situated within the impending structural COVID-19 shut down of the United State Postal Service, this piece serves as a preliminary exploration into the philosophical, phenomenological, and media ecological understanding of the digital love note product’s—the Lovebox—appeal in the Western world. People throughout history have subscribed to various culturally specific sociopsychological and material concepts of expressing love. Whether through exchanged locks of hair; rings; hand-written, printed, shared, and mailed letters; or even binding legal agreements, various rituals have long-been socially accepted as symbolic proof of lovers’ fondness for each other. Alongside this, love’s visceral ability to travel along our corporeal beings has led some to believe that it can be physically contained. The impetus for this piece was the advertisement, “The Lovebox: Where Technology Meets Love,” sparking the guiding questions: Where did the idea of owning proof of one’s love come from, and can love be held in the digital age? Beyond exploring these questions, this article seeks to trace out the sociohistorical landscapes that have grounded an incentive for this product to exist in the age of smartphones and their digital-ilk.