I just found an article about the slow death of handwriting while surfing the web. It really caught my attention because, while not mentioned or even hinted in that article, it would seem that technology could be one of the major causes of the declining relevance of handwriting today, and I am fond of both technology and writing—of which, handwriting is a natural part, whether by history or convention. In fact, I recursively use technology to write and publish stuff about technology and publishing (blogging).
Learning the art of handwriting is a demanding undertaking. It takes a lot of patience and practice to be proficient in it. Technology, on the other hand, promises desktop publishing even to hunt and peck typists.
In less than half a day, the average adult can be taught how to turn on the computer and fire up notepad. After that, she can type (even with both index fingers only) and print a simple letter to her boss. But if she does it by hand and her handwriting is indistinguishable from hieroglyphics, it’s going to take a lot longer than half of a day if she does not want her boss to take the letter as a death threat from a mummy.
Since learning the art of handwriting is tedious and rendered unnecessary due to the ease with which technology can duplicate the results, there is less motivation to undergo the torture—specially if it involves one’s hand being slapped with a long ruler. In addition, time spent learning the intricacies of holding the pen in just the right angle is time lost for learning more employable and relevant skills—like typing and how to use OpenOffice.org. So, most schools would rather focus on the latter.
Clearly, technology is one of the many culprits—if not the master-mind—of handwriting’s fall from grace. The question is: Is this a good thing, or not? Also, should technology be punished for the fate of handwriting, or applauded for the productivity it offers in exchange? Finally, should handwriting still occupy the same status in our schools as it did in the past, considering the amount of new materials to cover and the limited time? This is for each individual to consider. For me, the answer is clear.
Personally, I really like to write. Not just the writing one does when creating content but the physical act of writing itself, regardless of the product or result. There is so much to be said about the feeling you get when a good pen slides and glides on a piece of paper. It's like some kind of moving meditation by which you are disconnected from the whole world for a moment and you, the pen and the paper become one. This I do all the time when the need to relax or to clear my mind arises. I write random words, small loops, big loops, diagonals, and curls. What I write does not matter; only the act of writing does. It is a wonderful exercise that helps me feel better, improve my handwriting and reuse some paper which should have been due for the recycle bin.
There is another benefit of writing by hand. With it, you can draft the most personal message you can send somebody. Sending a handwritten message sends a message of its own—that of sincerity and importance.
The significance of a handwritten document is also not lost in the legal world. In some jurisdictions, a handwritten document takes precedence over typewritten or printed ones. In testamentary succession, some jurisdictions do not require a will to be notarized if it is in the handwriting of the testator (a holographic will). This speaks a lot about the weight given to handwritten documents and instruments.
However, while the importance and benefits of writing by hand is certainly acknowledged, the increased productivity you get with the aid of technology cannot be simply ignored. There are just a lot of things you can do better with a keyboard and a text editor than with a pen and paper.
When time is of the essence, a fast writer will find it very hard to match the speed of an average typist hammering on a Dvorak-layout keyboard. Finding mistakes in a word processor or text editor and correcting them is also a little less messy than with the pen and paper counterpart. In this Internet age, it becomes easier to integrate research and writing if you do it with a text editor. And when we add spell checking, search and replace, copy and paste functionalities, etc., it becomes a no contest.
Another thing is, and I think this is the real reason for the impending demise of handwriting as people knew it in the pre-60's, you need an inordinate amount of time to learn to write something as presentable as a computer generated document—time better spent learning to touch-type. For this reason, most people will not bother to spend more time with their handwriting above what is required to be reasonably legible. They can be more productive in a much shorter amount of time with a keyboard. Sure, people will still write by hand and it will still be taught in schools—but not in the same manner and emphasis as in the past.
I already confessed that I love to write by hand. But since it is not practical for the tasks that I commonly face in this day and age, I became a keyboard warrior, practiced mouse-fu for my daily tasks, and wielded the pen only for leisure, a short note and the oft-cited example: to-do or grocery lists. Luckily (or perhaps, unluckily) for me, I have already developed a reasonable level of handwriting skill to be able to use it without requiring the reader to have an advanced degree in cryptography. But for those still in school, I am not surprised and do not blame them if they de-emphasize handwriting in favor of typing skills. After all, nobody ever shed a tear when the slide rule was replaced by the calculator, or when travelling by foot was replaced by speedy and convenient transportation, or when the telegram was replaced by text messaging then by twitter, or when...
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