But all is not lost. As the throng pursues more fashionable prospects - podcasts, tweets, fanpages - mail may yet find its own happy ending.
I wouldn't be the first to see direct mail is best as the high-end and highly-targeted medium, par excellence - a million miles away from the bad old days of credit card carpet bombing and fundraising by formula.
In fact, at its smartest, direct mail is not the victim of the newer media, but their partner or sometimes their procurer.
A recent multimedia campaign for Waitrose confirms the theory. Not the first supermarket to go the celeb chef route, at least the advertising has a twist, employing uber-perfectionist chef Heston Blumenthal in tandem with the schoolmarm's schoolmarm of cooking, Delia Smith.
‘A shared love of food' is the egg-yolk that binds it all together.
Pairing these contrasting characters on telly makes for a good old-fashioned product demo - how to make rhubarb and ginger brulee, for example.
But imagine that you're a MyWaitrose member or food journo and you get this lovely package in the post - not just the recipe, but ingredients and serving dish!
You wouldn't need much encouragement to get blogging and posting (once your pud had settled a bit). My partner and I can spend days discussing ingredients and recipes ahead of stuffing some friends with a six-course dinner.
Like footy-fans and fashionistas, foodies can bore for England on their chosen topic. A brand like Waitrose is in an ideal place to capture and exploit that enthusiasm.
Simon S Kershaw is a creative consultant and a former creative director at Craik Jones.