Is the art of hand writing in danger of dying out?

AllForIt

Permabear wrote: »

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I think anyone using a computer word processor who wants to settle down and think, wouldn't be too put out to turn the wifi off. These days the pings and whistles come from the smartphones more so than the PC so if Rowling still uses pen and paper she would still have to turn her smartphone data connection off.

seamus wrote: »

What I find funny is that the less exposure you have to hand writing, the harder it is to read it. I used to be able to read any godawful scratchings on paper, but I had to read a very nicely written note the other day and found myself stumbling through it.

Anyway, writing by hand isn't really going anywhere. For general communications, yes, but for learning not so much. Kids still do the whole thing of tracing the shape of letters and then writing them fifty times, when they're learning how to read.

This is not only important for knowing how to write, but the practice of writing them down and tracing the shapes embeds the patterns in one's brain and improves overall reading ability. So even if kids never have to write anything down again, the act of tracing out the letters in pencil is still very important.

Contrary to Permabear's assertion, I find it impossible to write anything of worth away from a computer. It ends up being a disjointed and poorly structured mess.

I find note-taking and drafting waaay easier on a computer because it's far easier to edit and manipulate what you're writing than it is if you've committed it to paper. Scratching out words and re-writing onto a new sheet is time consuming and chaotic. Deleting and moving text on a screen allows you to play with the words and keep ideas organised.
I'll use a notepad where it's more convenient to carry than a laptop, but then transfer then to a computer as soon as possible if I need to hold onto them..

I think you have made some very good points there. For one, joined up handwriting is not necessarily that easy to decipher. I'm sure when GP's prescriptions were computerised there were a lot of chemists thankful for it.

humpsterfire

It will be a distinguisher in the near future, just like spelling (u wot m8?!).

There will be those that can spell and write (the educated), and those who cant (great unwashed). Backwards we gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Permabear

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