In my former life as a graphic designer, I never, ever, started a design project on computer. My first resort was always a hand-drawn thumbnail. Most often it was a barely legible scrawl on a scrap of paper, but pencil-and-paper it always was. My reasoning for this is that there is an indelible synergy between mind and hand that translates via the tactile sensation of a pen on paper, which just doesn’t quite exist with a mouse.
Sure, as a writer, I rarely write by hand – unless I get stuck. When I’m writing fiction especially and I hit a roadblock, I find that a few quick jottings with pen and paper is the breakthrough I need. Because, again, some invisible psychic electricity runs from the brain to the hand and exits through the pen.
Writing has been a crucial human skill for over 5,000 years. Possibly much, much longer. Some archaeologists argue that patterns of dots and y-shaped marks seen in cave paintings constitute a primitive writing. The theory is highly contested, but the fact remains that writing, by hand, is an essential human skill.
Or was.
In 1876, Mark Twain submitted the first full literary work written on a typewriter. Was it the beginning of the end of handwriting?
For thousands of years, writing has been one of the fundamental pillars of human communication, transmitting knowledge, stories and cultures down the ages. However, a new trend is gradually emerging, particularly among Generation Z. These young people, born between the late 1990s and early 2010s, seem to be losing a crucial skill that has been with us for around 5,500 years. According to recent studies by the University of Stavanger, around 40 per cent of this generation are losing their ability to communicate by handwriting. This phenomenon raises important questions about the evolution of our ability to communicate effectively.
This may sound like so much Old Man Yells At Cloud stuff, but it’s actually a serious question.
Digital technology has gradually transformed the way we communicate, making handwriting less and less common. From instant messaging platforms to social networks, young people prefer quick exchanges and abbreviations. The keyboard and touch screen have replaced pen and paper in many aspects of daily life. This change is so profound that some experts believe that Generation Z could be the first generation not to master handwriting at a functional level.
Yet handwriting plays a key role in cognitive development. It is linked to skills such as memory and comprehension, because it engages the brain in a different way to typing on a keyboard. This skill, which has shaped human civilization, is now under threat from the ubiquity of digital technology.
The ubiquity of keyboards is changing the way people write. Does that mean it similarly changes the way we think?
Professor Nedret Kiliceri explains that even university students lack knowledge of the basic rules of handwriting. According to her, students avoid long sentences and no longer write coherent paragraphs. They prefer isolated sentences rather than paragraphs that group together sentences linked by meaning. Students even come to university without pens and use keyboards for everything. The professor sees this as an influence of social media.
What’s more, the loss of handwriting doesn’t just affect the ability to write a letter or a postcard. It has a profound impact on the way Generation Z perceives and interprets the world. Handwriting is often associated with a more thoughtful and personal form of communication, in contrast to the often impulsive nature of digital texts.
Even worse, another linguist pointed out some years ago, ‘text-speak’ is reducing much expression to almost caveman-like grunts: ‘lol’, ‘omg’, ‘brb’...
As Orwell wrote, our language, “becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts”. What, then, of the slovenliness of our writing?
