Computing is killing cursive writing
Friday, October 13th, 2006
The Handwriting Is on the Wall
The computer keyboard helped kill shorthand, and now it’s threatening to finish off longhand.
As a person with both dyslexia and dysgraphia, I can’t complain. Handwriting is not one of my strong suits nor has it every allowed me to express the complexity of my thinking. Not that it should die off, but I I’m delighted to see it being diminished.
(Source kottke.org remaindered links.)
I am a left-handed art teacher. OK, I’m going to be sarcastic to make a point. Why not stop other activities that computers can take the place of. We can certainly make lightning fast digital art now, so no need to learn to draw or paint. Computers can now read out loud to us almost any book, so why learn to read? Let’s dumb ourselves down as much as possible so that if our computer crashes, we cannot no longer function in society.
Stacey: Good point(s). I too am a lefty and was an art teacher for many years.
I don’t agree that just because we find computers useful as a workaround in one area that means we ought to be using them in all areas. We use them selectively where they give us some needed help. If someone needed help with reading I see no problem with using a computer to help out. Same with writing.
Looking at the issue differently, if one wants to learn to read or learn cursive handwriting, a computer workaround is only part of the solution, the other part is training in those areas sans-computer.
I think we should always remember that writing is a means to another end which is personal expression. How one gets to that end, while important, is not an end in itself. Pen and paper, morse code, smoke signals, synthetic speech, and a computer are all tools to allow people to express themselves.
I don’t think writing with a computer has “dumbed me down” in the least. As a matter of fact, it has allowed me to write an enourmous amount more which has made me a much better writer than I would have been otherwise, has allowed more people to read my writing and has allowed me to think in more complex ways and use vocabulary that best expresses my ideas instead of limiting my vocabulary to only those words I remember how to spell.
Yes, no doubt I rely on my computer as a communication device and it’s important enough to me that I back it up religiously and if it ever died I’d get another one the same day. Not sure I see a problem with that. Or, put another way, if I could train myself up to become less reliant on a computer, what would that give me that’s so important?
Keep in mind the research showing that the fastest and clearest handwriters avoid cursive: they join some, not all, letters (making the easiest joins and skipping the rest) and use print-like rather than cursive-like forms of letters that differ notably in the two styles.
Kate: I agree and I seem to do some of this myself. However, given the choice, I choose a keyboard.
I know I’m a day late and dollar short on this thread, but I agree with both Kate’s and Richard’s points. I never had an LD issue that I know of. I once prided myself in having nice, if not elegant, handwriting. With advancing age, and too many career years of scribbling notes and signatures faster than is sensible, I can no longer decipher all of my own handwriting (if not careful) when jotting down notes for my own use. I certainly do still compose many of my better ideas in longhand, but it’s more difficult for me. Disregarding the fact that the existence of the computer made possible the proliferation of direct web publishing for the first time, I couldn’t effectively create that web content without it, either. So it would seem what I’m saying is: I agree the computer will never be a real substitute for solid written skills, any more than the calculator and spreadsheet are acceptable substitutes for understanding the methods of calculation, but I am grateful to be freed of the mechanical handwriting issues (or even the typewriter) so I can concentrate on content creation.