Education

Typing Gave Handwriting The Boot Why This Is Wrong

Nowadays, given all the aspects of technology that are on an alarming rate of growth, people who actually use their hands, pen and paper to write something have lessened dramatically. One simple proof is that most people have lost their good elementary school handwriting and their handwritten work has become barely readable. While it is considered a plus, bearing no harm, to switch to the faster and easier way, I see it another way.
For starters, handwriting is a skill. There is no reason in the world to deem a human skill obsolete and move on without it. Handwriting is good practice for the hand-mind coordination and ensures that one’s motor skills are more concentrated on his/her writing than if he/she were easily typing. Speaking of focus, all computers, laptops, tablets and other digital media with a notepad on them also bear other elements of distraction. How often would you go to check your Facebook account if your laptop was in the other room while you handwrite on your desk? Never, I assume. Another important issue is the hours of media use per day. Media use has a higher and higher rate every day, but it would be naive to believe that this comes cheap. Using digital media troubles sleep patterns and increases the frequency for headaches and other signs of fatigue.
The fast and easy way of using digital media for writing can save time, but consumes more time unnecessarily if distractions find their way to the user. Corrective software is great and I am not against it, but typing a final version of your writing into your computer right before submission saves you a lot of time in front of a screen and still gives you accurate results, so this way you get the merit of both ways. Some developed countries have started initiatives to digitize all their students’ work and abolish notebooks. It is logic to want easier methods and give students what they need to keep up with all what they have to learn and do, but I hate to see it at the expense of one of the most basic human skills.
Finally, with the handwriting skill vanishing everywhere, I believe that while the schools are not supposed to oblige students to use “older” methods and this is strictly a personal choice, my messages goes out to parents of young children and to teenagers: give your pens and pencils a chance. I encourage everyone to revisit their laptop-free desks with paper and pen again. Give yourself some quiet time to relive these moments of savoring your writing rather than writing to get things done. All comments on this opinion are welcome, be it with or against.

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