The internet makes you nostalgic. You always come across stories that talk about the past and how wonderful it was once upon a time in the pre-internet days. I stumbled on a story about how the ‘hand’ is disappearing from handwriting- you know the nostalgia of holding the pen, the vanishing cursive writing copybooks, and the painful swipe of the hand. Handwriting is a useful tool for the brain- it teaches automaticity, the way driving does (though learning driving is also being threatened by omnipresent Uber and a potential future of driverless cars). It also helps you connect at a very basic level- take handwritten notes to a loved one. Writing also provides ‘cognitive benefits’.
But even the written word faces the voice threat:
Take voice recognition software (VRS), such as Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa and Microsoft’s Cortana.
Read The Uncertain Future of Handwriting by Ewen Hosie to understand more about the forces that urge penmanship to belong more in the realm of the designer enthusiast than schools where good handwriting would once help you score brownie points.
