In our fast-moving digital world, handwriting is starting to feel like a lost art, especially for Generation Z—those born between the late ’90s and early 2010s. This shift makes us wonder about the future of how we communicate and think. A recent study from the University of Stavanger has found something pretty alarming: around 40% of Gen Zers are losing their grip on handwritten communication, a skill that’s been key to human interaction for about 5500 years.
How tech is changing the game
Digital technology has totally changed how we chat with each other. Apps like WhatsApp and social media sites such as Instagram push us toward quick messages full of abbreviations and emojis. With these platforms taking over, writing by hand is becoming less common among younger folks. Nowadays, keyboards and touchscreens are everywhere—from schoolwork to work emails.
Some experts believe Gen Z might be the first generation not to really nail down functional handwriting. This isn’t just about ease; it points to bigger shifts in how we handle information and connect with others. As digital communication takes center stage, we’re losing the personal touch that comes with handwritten notes.
Why handwriting matters for your brain
Writing by hand is super important for brain development—it gets your brain working in ways typing just doesn’t. It’s tied to key skills like remembering stuff and understanding what you read or hear. Handwriting calls for fine motor skills and mental focus, which helps reinforce learning.
Reports from several universities, backed up by stories in the Turkish newspaper Türkiye Today, show that Gen Z students often struggle when they need to do anything handwritten. They’re left feeling “bewildered” when asked to write clearly because they’re out of practice, resulting in messy scribbles that are hard to read.
What teachers are noticing
Professor Nedret Kiliceri has seen firsthand that today’s college students often lack basic writing know-how. Many avoid crafting long sentences or coherent paragraphs, choosing instead short sentences that look more like social media posts than essays. Plus, it’s not uncommon for students to show up at university without pens, relying only on keyboards for note-taking and assignments.
You can’t overlook social media’s influence here. Sites like Twitter push for shortness and speediness, shaping how young people talk both online and face-to-face.
What’s at stake for global communication?
The drop in handwriting skills isn’t just about sending letters or postcards; it touches on how Gen Z sees and understands their surroundings. Handwriting usually means thoughtful, personal communication—a big contrast to the often hasty nature of digital texts.
So here’s the big question: can Generation Z juggle their digital lives while keeping alive these age-old skills that have shaped society? The answers will shape not just how we communicate but also our grasp on cultural heritage.
As we navigate this changeover period, it’s crucial for educators, parents, and policymakers to find ways that blend digital smarts with old-school skills like handwriting in education systems worldwide. Encouraging practices that mix both worlds could help future generations keep vital cognitive abilities while moving forward with tech advancements.
In the end, seeing why handwriting matters might spark a new appreciation for its role in building deeper connections in our ever-more-digital landscape.
If it is not a required skill in the schools , how can we expect them to know any better ??
Wrong question.
Why is it NOT a required skill in school?
Are you a parent or aren’t you? It’s alarming and sad how people rely on the schools to raise their children. Not teach. RAISE. Might as well sign over adoption papers.
This is downright stupid. “Kids these days are losing a vital communication skill”. Yeah, maybe, but they’re trading it off for another one. Blacksmiths were better a couple of hundred years ago because now machine fabricate metal. Did losing our blacksmiths make us dumber. Gen z has followed the Flynn effect the same as every generation before them. They are quantifiably smarter than their parents. Backwards people always think that moving on from an outdated skill is going to make people dumb. That’s not how life works
Agree
lol ! That’d be real good idea I like that one
Very true. Raising kids isn’t only the schools responsibility. It begins from home and is a complete partnership for which u sign up once the child joins the school.
Verbal and hand written communication are important expressions and it enhances one’s capability to communicate patiently. It actually develops patience, encourages on the ability to constantly improve.
Very true. Raising kids isn’t only the schools responsibility. It begins from home and is a complete partnership for which u sign up once the child joins the school.
Verbal and hand written communication are important expressions and it enhances one’s capability to communicate patiently. It actually develops patience, encourages on the ability to constantly improve.
It is absolutely terrifying to think there is an entire generation coming into the fold that will not be able to read the original copy of the Declaration of Independence !
Or, even know what it is !!!
There will be a translation app. 😅
Erm… Why the hell would that be true? This article is about hand writing. They still know how to read. As for the constitution, it’s still taught in all public school civics classes. In fact, I can’t still cite the preamble by memory. Can you?
As a european, i do not care musch for this declaration of independence. However, as a gen z, i find it alarming that my fellow students are struggeling so much with such basic skills.
It’s already here. They don’t even teach cursive anymore, so they can’t even read the Constitution
I had this very conversation with my daughter and grand-daughter over the holidays. I tried to reinforce the idea that a hand written note shows so much more love and connection to another person than a text. It takes time to compose your thoughts on paper, where as a text takes seconds and your connection is done. I haven’t heard from them since.
Agreed….
That’s the problem..
We are soooooo busy focusing on AI, etc., that we have forgotten about the “basics.”
Sooo teachers are wondering, yet they expect students to complete every aspect of school work done online, it doesn’t make sense. Give kids paper and pens like the old way again.
They used to do that for us when we were younger, but they stopped later on. Honestly, digital work makes thinks simpler not only for students, but also teachers. It makes the grading process simpler and avoids teachers having to manage thousands of papers to juggle everyday.
“Simpler” doesnt automatically mean “Better”.
This is downright stupid. “Kids these days are losing a vital communication skill”. Yeah, maybe, but they’re trading it off for another one. Blacksmiths were better a couple of hundred years ago because now machine fabricate metal. Did losing our blacksmiths make us dumber. Gen z has followed the Flynn effect the same as every generation before them. They are quantifiably smarter than their parents. Backwards people always think that moving on from an outdated skill is going to make people dumb. That’s not how life works
Agree
You’re RIGHT! But “simpler” is NOT necessarily BETTER – or, in this case, even ADAQUATE! – for successfully functioning in the world. We’re talking about LAZINESS (of our teachers & parents) now and this is UNACCEPTABLE for YOU, for TODAY’S CHILDREN who are the ones who suffer the CONSEQUENCES of #teachers NOT wanting to “manage thousands of papers to juggle every day.” A TEACHER, a genuine teacher, SHOULD WANT TO DO THIS because s/he KNOWS that it is GOOD FOR, what is BEST FOR the students… what is ESSENTIAL for them to compete and to #function in – to COMMUNICATE with their world on the MOST BASIC LEVEL – – to merely be ABLE TO #WRITE A NOTE to someone, or to READ one when necessary.
If the POWER goes down in one of the large areas near/on #FAULTS in the USA for an extended period of time, #CellPhones will be USELESS. What will you do if you’re injured and cannot talk or be properly heard? What will a 50 to 70 year old INJURED person or a DEAF person do when everyone around them does NOT KNOW #SignLanguage – AND CANNOT READ WRITTEN LANGUAGE – in an EMERGENCY?
What will you do when you’re in a foreign country and a very STRIKINGLY ATTRACTIVE person from a small village quickly WRITES YOU A LOVE ❤ 💖 ❣ 💕 💘 NOTE? 😍
You spelled “adequate” incorrectly, but I agree with your thoughts.
Are you a teacher? If you have so much passion for the youth why not become one? Is it possible that teachers are chronically underpaid while tuition still goes up? Maybe it has more to do with the system rather than blaming it on “lazy teachers”.
Verbal and hand written communication are important expressions and it enhances one’s capability to communicate patiently. It actually develops patience, encourages on the ability to constantly improve. All digital is not healthy f4om such a small age.
God forbid a teacher in this country actually having to work.
ABSOLUTELY! I’m sorry to “blame,” but is is not OBVIOUS that #TEACHERS – and #SCHOOLS as a whole!! – are to BLAME for what is no less than a TRAVESTY: the fact that 2 GENERATIONS of #Americans can neither WRITE nor READ #CURSIVE?
My private schools – CATHOLIC SCHOOLS – had #PENMANSHIP as a bonifide SUBJECT, just like Geography, Math, History, Latin (in H.S. in both Catholic & Public Schools). We were TAUGHT these subjects – including #PENMANSHIP/WRITING – for 1 HOUR, EVERY SINGLE DAY. Art was FIT IN once weekly because it required 1.5 to 2-hours, given CLEAN-UP.
I went to school in the 19 60s and 1970s but my daughter went in 1980s and 1990s to #MONTESSORI (starting in PreSchool) which ALSO TAUGHT #PENMANSHIP as a SUBJECT – EVERY SINGLE DAY- appearing on Report Cards withGRADES given.
So… WHOM are we to blame?… for SURELY someone/something MUST be blamed… and it’s NOT the children – who are #VICTIMS of poor #EducationSystems – and #PARENTS… YES, PARENTS… for accepting an UNACCEPTABLE #VICTIMIZATION of their children for decades!
I would have TAKEN MY CHILD OUT OF #SCHOOL – and #HomeSchooled her myself (which I DID for 1 year) – before putting her into a “school”(?) that NEGLECTED to teach her HOW TO #WRITE!!! It is literally UNIMAGINABLE.
The #PARENTS of today in the #USA who helped to #VICTIMIZE their children – leaving them #INEPT & #INCAPABLE of FUNCTIONING in the world – are to be BLAMED. They probably would have placed their children into schools that neglected to teach #MATH and #ENGLISH as well if they ACCEPTED schools that NEGLECTED to teach them HOW TO WRITE – the single MOST #IMPORTANT & MOST #VITAL SUBJECT a school could teach – for IF a child/person CANNOT #WRITE, they are left INEPT in a world where #communication is key… and INCAPABLE of #competing, or even simply keeping up, with their foreign #ForeignCounterparts – others in our world whether they come across them in the #USA or in a foreign country.
#CellPhones are NOT always available – and what will children DO when communicating with the world’s people (WHO WRITE with NORMAL ease) – during a prolonged #PowerFailure or ANY other #CATASTROPHE where #electricity goes down? Pull out their DEAD cell phones? We ALL can probably think of a half dozen situations where we might need to WRITE A NOTE to someone, or to READ A NOTE that someone has written – ALL #IMPOSSIBLE for our #ChildrenOfUSA.
This makes no sense whatsoever. They aren’t losing the ability to read the written word. In fact, language score have steadily improved since the late 90s. You know that when people are on their phones, they’re still reading. Blacksmiths used to be a lot better than they are now, too. Outdated skills are outdated because we don’t need them anymore. Gen z follows the Flynn effect the same as every generation before them. They are quantifiably smarter than previous generations. Just because they use more font than handwriting doesn’t mean they can’t read and write, it means they just don’t have to. On average they read more than older generations. If the power goes out, not only will they still be able to read and write, they will also probably be able to write code for a computer system to help get it up and running again. Most people probably wouldn’t be able to kill, dress, and smoke their game either but nobody is writing articles about losing those skills. Everyone wants to blame the devices that are actually making people more intelligent. What a philistine joke
Gabi, your ideas and the examples you give are very good, but maybe you can better express them by removing all the hashtag signs (#) in front of every other word in your comments. You yourself seem a victim of the lack of clear, traditional writing style by using symbols, and also excessive capitalization for emphasis, in your writing. Hashtags and CAPS just interfere with the flow of your message. Just trying to be helpful, and again, thanks for making some good points!
I’m an artist and teacher who loves everything analog including drawing, painting, and handwriting. It wasn’t uncommon for me to have and loan several pens/pencils to friends everyday in school until I did this as a teacher as part of my job. Handwriting can be deeply personal but it can also be liberating. A comment on social media, however clever and witty, still seems very sterile. The same comment written on paper immediately gives it a soul, some character, and style based on who wrote it. There’s also no filter or algorithm you have to please when you pick up a pen. With a pen, you can cuss, doodle, scribble, or just tap it to a beat. There no character limit, or anyone else that needs to read what you handwrite either. So liberate yourself a little bit today, go rogue, sharpen a pencil the old fashion way, and write a mystery note to your boss telling them to go fu*ck themselves. 🙂 It’ll also make your ancestors proud; They never got to use social media.
Thank you so much for sharing this nice topic of Handwriting. Indeed, am a writer and researcher who have used 500 pens from 2011 to-date.
Indeed, it’s amazing, and am still a Ugandan, who can still write about 10 paragraphs sequencing and expressing my ideas and opinions in respect of the subject. Thanks
I’m a homeschooling Millenial. We actually use very little tech for our Gen Alphas. They write by hand much more than they type. I’m also teaching them cursive which has far been lost on Gen Z. I personally think it helps their creativity and focus to write by hand.
If you have ever looked into handwriting analysis, you would be able to ascertain the effect handwriting has on the brain and personality and vice versa the brain and personality’s effect on handwriting. By practicing penmanship- as boring as it sounds- you can improve parts of your personality and brain.
Also, maybe you have noticed, if you write with a pen or pencil used by someone else that your handwriting is affected by the way that person wrote. Weird yes and annoying- probably partly why people used to carry their own pens with them.
As we become more dependent on AI, we will all lose natural human skills. ..every generation. Pretty soon all humans will be able to do is lay on the floor and stare at the ceiling because computers, Robots and AI will do everything for us.
Life is going to get very boring very soon. Computers will even be able to contemplate belly buttons better than humans can so we won’t even be able to do that. Humans will be obsolete and that’s not science fiction.
That’s 100% modern day fact.
How this will make life boring!? Atleast I dont have to get up and go through boring lectures in classes… I would have my own machine to do all classwork things and then at home I can do the same at my own pace… Whats wrong in it?
What’s wrong with it is you’ve actually done nothing if the machine did it for you. Where’s the integrity in that? While the machine is doing it for you, which someone else made that machine, not you (yet another thing you didn’t do) you’ve done what? Nothing. You literally state that lectures are boring. It almost feels as if you’d be one of those humans in Wall•E that is obese riding around in a chair all day because, ‘why would I use my own legs to walk, the machine can do it for me? ‘ Integrity. Honor. Dignity. Aspiration.
I just can’t understand the willingness to do nothing. It’s not as if you are an indigenous person in pre-colonized America. They hunted when they had to, built new homes when the old ones wore down, there was no school, no work, no Tv. It was understandable for them to lay around in the sun and listen to the birds or to run through fields of tall grass chasing one another. No tablets to distract them or videos games to lose endless hours of lifetime to. It was understandable.
You also lose the critical skill of human interaction. These kids today aren’t forming deep rooted, bonded connections. Passing notes when I was in highschool WAS THE THING. All of my friends had their own signature way of folding their notes. Some long skinny strips. Some meticulously folded down into small squares with a pull tab to open it. All done with a single sheet of binder paper. Inside were unique handwriting styles that you knew without question was that friend. The big block letters or the tiny all caps. We told one another secrets about crushes or the pranks we were pulling after lunch or the struggles at home. Today LOL is a response for everything and half the time the person typing it is not even literally laughing out loud.
You saying, ‘my machine can go to the lecture for me. ‘ screams lazy, no ambition, and honestly you’ll end up dumber for it. The brain is the mainframe of your body. Yours will deteriorate quicker if you don’t get those neural pathways firing and making new connections. Great news though- your machine will be smarter than you and be more driven.
Without interaction with other humans, of which handwriting is one form.. the purpose of life becomes blurred and the joy of it can disappear .. every study tells us that those with a strong network of relationships live healthier, happier and longer lives. Jury is still out on those that have a relationship with their cellphones.
A question: Can you, or others here, think of three ways in which it could be harmful? If not, then you, or us, lack basic debating skills, i.e. the capability to dispassionately but thoughtfully analyze this, or any, proposition. (I am not suggesting that you are like this, I am just attempting to make a point). The skills discussed here are proven to relate directly to the development of neurological pathways which themselves enable further neurological growth. The fear implicit within this article relates to the stagnation of basic human capability for intellectual growth. And, that we are becoming increasingly intoxicated by our technical prowess that we more often both confuse it with intellectual growth and deny the will to investigate what is being lost. An opinion as valid as others could be that the skillful manipulation of man-made devices and media is not intellectual in nature, but rather “monkey see, monkey do”, wherein the monkey spends more time looking for evidence of inclusion, acceptance and feedback (such as food) than it does thinking about anything outside this framework. And, without thought, all appears well, endorphins flow, the burning desire for knowledge traded for short-term gratification. The bigger question: Do we have the desire to explore this (or another) intellectual notion? If not, that is an even bigger question.
Good summary
Too late! My 16 year old grandson has already fallen victim to digital addiction, has no vision, no motivation to go outdoors, do any physical work or exercise, yet still thinks a job will come and find him because he thinks he is a genius (with C’s and D’s on his report card). But he knows social promotion will advance him to the next level even if he fails. Very sad for our country’s future! I have authored and published 3 books and working on my 4th at 74 years old and legally blind. I wanted to set an example for my children and grandchildren, but our youth have no human heroes anymore, just avatars and electronic make believe.
I don’t know how to express my sympathy with you. But to me your words are an eye opener for many like us who’s children are in beginning to loose their minds. Peace🙏
True. I agree.
You are a national treasure. Never met you, but I believe you one of those Heroes without capes.
You don’t know was you’re talking about
Now that’s exactly what I’m waiting for Yoo-hoo!!!!!!!!!😁😁😁😁😁😁 because you got to remember, your phone is 2/3 of your life without your phone, you mays well just die
They can’t see the handwriting on the wall!
😂😂😂😂
lol😂😂😂😂😂😂
A lot of aspects are revealed through handwritten notes. Not only the flow of thoughts which are supported even through technology,but also the way we juggle with the designs and symbols of the script.
Writing is pure fun and joy with the authenticity of our own style which is so important . If the style and pace can match the technology then it is quite an achievement . A style with clarity in every aspect to match the different fonts, the pace that’s equal to the quick vocabulary that’s presented by the technology to be used with correct spelling and syntax .
Too much of writing makes it very challenging task and time consuming. That may be probably the reason why technology comes handy in the learning process.
One thing this article fails to address is that for all but roughly a hundred of those 5500 years of the written word, handwriting (and literacy in general) was limited to a select few. This shift is hardly upending all of the history of literacy.
Yes, the cognitive changes are important to study. But I think it could be useful to study the cognition older Millennials with disabilities who couldn’t write by hand (or even type) or had such limited function in their hands that they couldn’t hand-write notes in class. Many of us relied on our fellow students as note-takers in class back when laptops were unaffordable. And of course, blind students still rely on recordings of the lectures, recordings of other students’ notes, and Braille versions of other students’ notes.
Due to my disability, handwriting was extremely painful, but luckily my mom used a $5k inheritance to buy a 286 PC when I was in kindergarten in 1986. I could already read when I started kindergarten, but writing was an uphill battle. So using Mavis Beacon, I learned to type before I could write at the same level as my peers. Throughout my K–12 education, I typed any homework I possibly could. (And I sometimes wonder if my struggles in math relate to the pain of having to hand-write it.) By undergrad at Berkeley in the early aughts, I finally realized I could receive *services* for the issues I had with handwriting and had note-takers in my classes. I had accommodations to take my exams on computer. I graduated with a 3.83, including a two-semester grad seminar. I was admitted to every grad program I applied to. By grad school, I had a laptop, and I did everything on computer. I had a 4.0 when I left with my MA. Relying on typing for at least 50% of my K–12 education and for the vast majority of my higher education didn’t impact my academic success. The only area where I struggled academically was in the one subject in which typing was impossible: math.
None of this affected my memory. I am in the 99th percentile for verbal memory. And you can tell by this comment that short sentences and the inability to write full paragraphs are not an issue. If anything, I really need to work on concision. 😄
I don’t say all of this to boast, but to point out how typing hasn’t seemed to impact my cognition the way this article describes. And I know several other people with disabilities that prevented them from hand-writing who excelled academically. Obviously the plural of anecdote is not data. But that’s why I think studies of the cognition of students with disabilities who didn’t grow up with texting and social media, but DID grow up using typing, note-takers, and recordings as accommodations would be very valuable. I hypothesize that the cognitive changes in Gen Z have more to do with the way communication has changed to short, less explicated messages than with them typing instead of hand-writing in their communication. It’s also possible that the reduction in real-time communication is part of the problem, as well.
The issue here is not just the loss of handwriting but also the push for super short speedy messages. When the majority of your communication consists of messages no more than 256 characters trying to actually create a full paragraph, let alone a proper one becomes a struggle. Even a complete sentence can be a challenge a times.
Interesting as well as enlightening.
I strongly agree with your conclusion and offer up as well the dislike of reading for many students. Reading comprehension is certainly a struggling aspect of communication.
Your situation is certainly not typical. You were determined to overcome and conquer your disability, and you did it admirably. But handwriting and verbal skills aren’t the only things lacking with many of our youth these days. They seem to lack that determination you had… to accomplish anything. Too many of them are content to be mediocre, or less. I believe they’ve actually lost so much more than in-person communication and proper speech. The written word is an art, and the one art we’ve all had in common for generations, also an admirable accomplishment. I shutter to think what might happen should we ever lose power. They will be totally lost.
How is losing obsolete skills and replacing them with more efficient ones a problem ? If anything is great about gen zs and below, it’s communicating why they aren’t able, or should, do something. No communication problem there.
Exactly.
Imagine, when ink and paper became a thing:
“Roman scholars have lost the art of chiseling in slabs!”
Some skills become defunct. Typing allows us to do more in less time.
These studies and subsequent articles have been circulating for ten years now. The problem is, typing uses a part of the brain that isn’t connected to long term memory as much as handwriting. Students would take a test and immediately forget most of the information. Tap, tap, tapping on a keyboard isn’t the same as the longer strokes needed for cursive. And honestly, there’s nothing like the feel of the slight drag of a good pencil across a paper as it deposits graphite on the surface. Sharpening the pencil is a small spot to plot out the next move, whether it’s for a paragraph, or a drawing.
In addition, cursive helps, somewhat, students with dyslexia. Small case “b”s, “f”s, “q”s, “s”s are very different in cursive than in print. Unless they’ve been taught cursive they. can’t. even. sign. their. own. names. to. documents.
I got into an argument with a principal over my using cursive as a lesson plan once.
One of my great great grandfathers was a circuit riding Methodist preacher. He made his money by teaching people to read, and to write. A hundred years later, I was teaching art students to write cursive, because no one else seemed to be doing it, except the life skills teachers. That irony of teaching older students to write, continually astounds me. Learning cursive is learning to be an adult. It’s a secret code. Students who can’t read cursive can’t read older documents. At least now it’s being mandated as a subject again.
I suppose you aren’t able to read an analog clock either..
I’m a “boomer,” but still experienced colleagues choosing to record everything direct to their computers. My point is that it’s not a new, or Gen Z only, phenomenon. I would propose that the bigger issue is the degradation of communication skills in general. The skill of inquisition, the complete and direct phrasing of a concept and even intelligent debate are fleeting.
I also use a computer and smart phone ubiquitously, but when I want to think (both past and present), I choose to write things down. I feel that doesn’t make me special, just old.
They probably also don’t know how to make a fire. Because, well, stoves and ovens. Get over it, we change technology and technology changes us.
I am thrilled about a bright future for HR professionals,trainers, soft skills coaches and communication training experts
Paper and Pen are vanishing.
I know enough Gen Xs who can’t write or spell well, see it every day. Not something you can blame on Gen Z.
Written communication skill level stops at the end of grade 6. So the handwriting of our kids doesnt progress past that level.
Checkout the handwriting of senior high school students, it looks like a younger child’s handwriting. This is an issue that’s not being addressed.
Plus it’s not just written communication that is a problem but verbal also.
Without having to pick up a random phone call (from the old house phone), kids lack basic ad lib skills. They don’t have the opportunity to learn basic skills we have taken for granted.
The education ministry must take note of this .Not only are their linguistic skills declining,but also they are developing very bad handwriting, almost illegible.Schools declare that they won’t allow cell phones in class upto the twelfth standard,but they don’t implement it, perhaps in fear of the wealthy parents, private schools in particular.Bringing phone or tablet till the twelfth standard must be made a cognizable offence, inviting rustication even in the final years,all over India.
I have been teaching school for 30 years. Until a few years ago, written expression was a part of many assignments in school, with grammar and punctuation emphasized and graded. The students that come to me now have trouble with basic letter formation, not to mention forming complete written sentences. They are often unable to decipher anything written in cursive.
The most tragic part of this is that these students will leave behind them no written record of who they are…their feelings, observations, and understandings of life. There will be no written records that give future generations a glimpse into who they truly were. I have many letters and journal writings from my ancestors that reveal their personalities, hopes, fears, and faith. I can read these old manuscripts and feel connected to the actual person’s related to me over 100 years ago. How will the students of today leave a legacy if they can only express themselves in chppy phrases in texts and emails?
Solution: I believe every teacher, beginning in K or 1st grade should require each child to have a journal where each day they write from a creative prompt…e.g., “If it rained Skilles,” ” If the world were flat”, “If I had been a Jamestown colonist, a native American in Virginia, “. They would be forced to learn and use written language, and they would leave behind a record of their imaginative and concrete ideas. One day, a great-grandchild might hold one of those journals, and get to know her great-grandmother/father.
I agree wholeheartedly! As a writer, I have learned that writing is not only a communication tool, but an exercise that connects us to the messages locked in our subconscious mind. Some say it connects us to the inner voice of the soul. Using a prompt, a pen, and paper slows us down enough to bring us to a state of mindfulness. To lose these skills would be dehumanizing.
Agree
You’ve made wonder points.
Cursive writing utilizes a different part of our brains than printing or typing. The more parts of our brains that we use is protective in case of a brain trauma (Stokes, Head injury, etc.) If the section of the brain was never developed in the first place it is VERY difficult (nearly impossible) to gain recovery in that area. This also is a plug for the value of art and music classes.
The author of the article shows a clear bias that loss of writing skills is inherently bad. Positive aspects are overlooked. As an educator I see the use of voice communication on the rise. I grade my assignments now with voice dictation turned on. I clean up the text using AI. My students end up with more detailed feedback than I can achieve by typing. Voice communication predated handwriting by many millenia. Many people bemoan the loss of verbal skills such as off the cuff speeches, debating and coherence.
Maybe the loss of handwriting is going to usher in a new era of speaking.
I thought about this 10 years ago when i witnessed a kid in the 6th grade struggle with leaving a note. When i was in the 6th grade, i could write everything i was looking at on a screen without looking at the paper i was writing on in print or in cursive. Handwriting was one of the biggest parts of our curriculum in those days.
What? Perhaps you should write a comment before you type it. Your comment is nonsensical.
“Writing is tied to key skills like remembering stuff and understanding what you read or hear.”
Umm, no. Actually studies have proven that oral history was passed down in India for generations, without any significant loss, when paper had not yet been invented in Tang China. Writing actually reduced the amount the brain could remember and understand what it heard. So yes, if it’s a skill humans don’t need, it will be lost or forgotten until calligraphy becomes a fad for gen-Beta. Typing on phones or laptops will provide almost the same motor skills. Stop the sky-is-falling narrative already.
Pseudoscience. The article contains no concrete support for the idea that keyboarding is somehow inferior to hand writing. Running a keyboard is not fine motor activity? Handwritten thoughts are somehow superior to keyboard. Let my keyboard tell the author my keyboard is telling him/her that the piece seems pure hypothesis, near BS. The only clear support offered for the idea is a Turkish paper? If I were an editor, this piece would be kicked back for redo in a heart beat.
This article may even be computer generated by using AI with fictitious facts and author.
Look at the number of typos, spelling and grammar errors in the comments. If this were written most of these wouldn’t exist.
Of course, neither would these comments.
Good morning! What an informative, insightful article. I am technically a millennial(born in 1996) and I genuinely thought I was nuts; as I’ve noticed the social decline of the younger, upcoming generations. There has to be balance. Social media/the internet is not the devil, they just need to be utilized correctly and more efficiently.
I noticed it in supermarkets where workers can’t read a piece of paper in front of them . In businesses workers can’t understand money in front of them.
About 200 years ago, only the rich could read and write. At least today’s children can read and type. And who reads cuneiform or hieroglyphics any more? Back then only scribes did.
The solution is simple. Take the web out of school, entirely besides the 1 to 2 internet search requirement for research papers.
Go back to projectors either new or old. The internet, does the work for you, and it can take too long to wait for the class to locate anything, easily distracts and always leads somewhere else. It’s way too much for a growing mind to process. It’s a waste of time. Teachers spend more time loading when they should be teaching.
Not to mention that a lot of information on the internet is made up and false. With artificial intelligence, information is computer generated and made to be of interest instead of factual.
Well my handwriting was already awful in grade school and I was born in 1979. My teachers were quite pleased when I started typing everything and printing it on the ol’ dot matrix printer. Then impressed when it started looking like it came from a laser printer (I confessed that no, my parents hadn’t spent like 2 grand on a laser printer, I’d picked up an old daisywheel printer for like $5. LOL. )
As someone born in 98 I’d like to point out we probably shouldn’t be blaming tech for this issue. Instead blame the fact that they stopped teaching it in school DECADES ago.. my grade 4 teacher was very confused that I didn’t know how to hand write at the time and even then I had to teach myself! No one teaches kids anymore. How about we fix that problem because there’s alot of stuff I should know at 26 that I never was taught.
Where is the link to the actual study? “A recent study from the University of Stavanger has found something pretty alarming” ok I can’t assess anything without a link to this supposed study. Searching is turning up nothing. This is a persistent failure in science journalism.
Attention spans have also suffered, dropping precipitously…You had best condense your verbal thought into a 15 sec sound bite, delivered at machine gun rate, or risk losing your listener entirely as his eyes glaze over and he blanks out…
The vast majority of human beings could not read or write for 5300+ years of the 5500 year span. A skill that was popularized for the last couple hundred years, and not for everyone, is all of a sudden the marker of failure for a whole generation??? These kids run circles around other generations in abilities that are useful in the digital world we live in. The sky is still in the air. Relax.
Very interesting. Not only lack cursive writing skills but reading, spelling and meaning of words. Computers have advantages and disadvantages. Though I own a laptop I still do a lot of cursive writing with pencil on paper for the past forty years. My children tease me by saying why doing the draft? Type it on the laptop. Fast and easy. I agree but writing on paper makes me think and write at my own pace and time and I don’t have to worry about eye or headache Like some young people have today. Even complain about Flat battery. I use the laptop to type my final piece. I am 72 years I don’t complain about eye or headache. I have set aside three to four days a week and I have also set aside one to three hours a day to use the laptop to type my piece of writing. I don’t waste time thinking about what to write on the laptop because all that is done with pen on paper. Battery power is not wasted also because I quickly type my piece within the time allocated and I close the laptop. Yes computers are good but the human brain is better because you don’t need a battery.
Skills “we” had for 5500 years? When maybe in the last 60 years the majority of people learned how to read and write? Come on, don’t try to demonize what is a problem that should be talked about with seriousness
I’m a boomer. I can read and write in cursive and use a slide rule. Will we be the next code talkers?
Prior to the Industrial revolution the poor could not read or write in Europe. The rich realized if they wanted competent workers they needed to educate the working class. Even a100 years ago it was common for poor ppl or the working class to not read or write. Many ppl’s Great-grandparents probably signed “x” for their name. This isn’t new.
Society has been really dumbed down and incredibly lazy.
Awe… too bad/sad that after this GREAT ARTICLE on a terrific and much-needed subject, you WON’T PERMIT us to post a related IMAGE, which could raise our replies to a star-lit level! 😍🤗
Look at how our predecessors communicated with the public. They painted a picture in the minds of the people reading their thoughts. Cursive writing could also indicate their emotions in the style of their script. Much can be gained by putting pen to paper. How often have we used autocorrect, auto fill and grammar/spell check? How often have we dumbed down what we write, either typed or written. Time to use our talents to not only convey our thoughts and ideas but to educate and elevate. Taking short cuts will not help our youth. Writing in cursive helps the creative mind. Doing math in longhand versus the calculator teaches proper methodology much the same as longhand writing. It is constructive and not destructive rather than the reverse.
As a nurse, I’ve watched what happens when electronic charting gets shut down for a few hours. Not common, but it does happen. It’s the older nurses who have to show them how to chart using pen and paper
signatures should be maintained for identification purposes
Just waiting for the time when tec fails massively, no Mobil phone, no cash machines, no efpo. Then we would have to write things down, count in our heads instead of a phone calculator, carry cash, no electronic cash register. I personally love writing in a journal, notes list letters, read a book holding in between your hands turning the page. And having cash. And wow people might talk verbally to each other
Information at hand will continue to degrade. The devices are weapons to control each and everyone and you can see how things have went since the pay phone days. The work ethic has proven not so good as well, so so soft. I was born in the mid 80s and we didn’t have these types of problems until after y2k as the technology kept growing. I can’t say I don’t surf the lands looking for different ideas to search look I found myself here and now commenting on this article lol but this is something more people should be talking about. My hobby is CB radio and it’s the original social media, I have around 15 local good buddies ratchet jawing nightly . What a great hobby for example I always have my notebook and pencil at ready so I can write down any skip contact handles, the ones I make contact with – which are many . Such a shame for the kids of today because GenZ will be the ones the little kids will be looking up to.😕 we should be really reevaluating our public school systems because they are a big blame here. In computer class you type in every other class good old paper and pencil. We stand for the pledge of allegiance and there are TWO bathrooms boys and girls if you go in the wrong one you may just ketch a ass whipping . I hope all the phones stop working reliably as it will bring back the importance of radio just like the old days, run to the payphone or buy a radio lol. The hobby is fun.
Okay, boomer. 🙃
As a special educator for 30+ years, I insisted on the importance of handwriting, even when state standards removed them. I would cite research as outlined elsewhere and in this article and was chastised for doing what I believed to be in the best interest of my students. Handwriting, I am convinced, helped their reading, spelling and writing. Cursive made it easier for them to recognize where one word ends and a new one begins. I’m also convinced it helps memory skills. I taught cursive to k-3 students. It can be done. It helps with left-right progression, improves fine motor skills, written communication, and critical thinking. I have no problem with computerized learning…we need to do a good job of both old and new!
Fine motor skills are also being lost. Adults holding pens like small children hold crayons, is alarming to say the least.
This comment section amuses me.
It’s an Indian article quoting a Norwegian university study, which people are using to bash American youth.
You people complain about the communication skills of GenZ, and yet you display a staggering lack of reading comprehension and critical thinking yourselves.
Exactly what I’d expect from Americans.
Firstly, the article is bunk. The article does no sourcing, quotes nothing from the study, and links it to unrelated academics from across the world in Turkey.
As a Norwegian, I can find no trace of this study at the University of Stavanger, yet I find studies saying that choice of writing medium does not meaningfully impact childhood development of communication skills.
People of the us. Get a grip, and get over yourselves.
Do some introspection, learn to read and think critically, actually vet your sources of information before you jump screaming to the attack of the new scary young people.
Especially you, @Gabi Taylor.
Indeed, hand writing was or is pivotal in the learner. Many of us hardly ever appreciated it not only for communication, but also as a form of art.
Hand writing teaches multiple-multi tasking anilities especially for the student: concentration, listening, writing, hand and fingure exercise/control, spelling and all round awareness and maybe much more not mentioned here.
Digital writing on the other hand looses most of these – spelling (through auto correction) being top of the list, hence they become uneasy when asked to perform duties that require hand writing.
This is not say Digital writing has no positives, but it would be better if schools combined the two.
Complaining that people lose their ability to spell from not writing by hand is ironic when you yourself cannot spell “finger” or “loses”.
If you’re going to critique the skill of others as lacking compared to yours, yours must be -perfect-, or you will have people calling out your hypocrisy as I have done here.
First it was no longer required to learn cursive.Now the nuanced sentence is replaced with emojis and letters.!As we hurtle through digital age we need to be sure of what we give up.
If we lost our electric already almpst half cant write..Scary
You failed to bring up the worst part. You can not do math or the sciences without handwriting . So, these people are essentially removed from these jobs or communicating any kind of complex math. Companies should test applicants with handwriting.
First of all that last part you said is patently ridiculous. Writing utensils don’t keep the spirit of the last person that uses them. Absurd. Also, this article isn’t referring to kids not being able to read and write. It simply says they aren’t needing to. They can still read. In fact, the average student now reads more than any previous generation. And honestly, who cares at all about cursive? This whole mess of garbage is like thinking that we are all going to be more stupid when the pen was invented because we will not be as good with pencils. Outdated skills are outdated because we either don’t need them anymore or they’ve been replaced by something more efficient. Have you ever looked at the effect that digital communication has on the brain? If not, you’ve really got no basis for your argument. I wonder if the quill made people freak out because they would lose the skill of writing by chiselling into rock. Technology changes and we change with it. This has always been the way. Get over the fact that a lot of the hard skills you learned are now obsolete
This has been evolving since my children were in elementary school and continues with my grandchildren. My grandchildren are amused by the callous on my finger developed over many years of handwriting (print, then cursive) in school. The idea that one wrote manually rather than keyed seems ancient history to them.
My grandson who is in 10th grade never learned cursive! C’mon! I learned it in 3rd grade and it didn’t take long. I learned to read in first. What is wrong with our schools?
As a retired English/ Language Arts teacher, I totally agree that handwriting is essential to effective communication. Short snippets of information often lead to miscommunication. Teaching the motor skills necessary for handwriting definitely challenges the brain to create a personal connection to the message. Paper, pencil, or stones are readily available and don’t require electricity or any outside power source. Quick and easy has its place, but the personal touch is missing. What happens when that technology is not available? How will future generations get our messages?
Not just hand writing, but cursive in particular was instrumental in developing right/left brain hemisphere communication. What’s now referred to as”hemisync” and plotted using frequency specific sound used to be achieved using cursive.
This is so true. I’ve been in the educational field for over 40 years and found those students with a neat handwriting also had a calmer disposition and handled their emotions bettee. I encourage family to provide their children with journals and celebrate the development of their penmanship and writing skills. They will be glad they did. It will be a worthy investment of time and resources for sure.
Gen Z is worthless.
I’d like to second what Red said.
This article seems very unreliable, I don’t understand how so many people are taking it so seriously. Unless there’s already some form of prejudice against gen z and you all just jumped on this opportunity to cry outrage.
Also, you guys keep acting like we never use pens and write down stuff based on what you’ve seen from a select few. I need you to understand that there are exceptions to every rule and that aberrant points are not representative of an entire population.
Some majors literally require people to continuously write things down with a pen. When you’re solving an equation for example, it’s a lot faster and easier to do so with a pen and just continuously cross things out as you go. When writing an essay, a lot of people (myself included) tend to first write it on paper and annotate and add tiny notes to self on what needs to be further developed and whatnot, before we type the final version on word.
Please get a grip on yourselves and stop mindlessly believing every single article you come across, use your critical thinking skills.
As a senior who loves to write and has had professional experience as an editor, proofreader, poet, storyteller and so on, writing by hand with pen or pencil was something I did constantly until the ubiquity of cell phones. Now I use a cell phone for most of my writing, out of sheer convenience since it lets me look things up and removes the need to always carry, and keep track of, a notebook and pen. We used “Filofax” daily datebook journals to keep on schedule at the height of my career in the Eighties and Nineties, and expressiveness on a state-of-the-art IBM typewriter came from changing the “font style” with interchangable type heads. I email, text message, use WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram daily now, and include emojis and abbreviations just like anyone does, but I refuse to write without keeping my old style of being fully expressive and detailed. Thus I end up spending more time formulating, typing, and reviewing what I write, just as I did when I wrote by hand. Some get impatient reading my longer emails, but most say they enjoy reading what I write and that they value the full story or easy-to-follow information I’m imparting. Writing with the flow of speaking is a valuable skill, and besides, I think my personality comes out. That’s important when face-to-face communication happens so much less now. Most certainly I get my ideas across to others accurately. It’s possible to still have writing skill using today’s tech, like others have said here, writing in a detailed, grammatic and stylistic way requires patience, forethought, and planning. Those skills don’t have to disappear over the generations.
Speaking of impatience, one of the things I’ve noticed today is when I’m dealing with a young person and using my phone to show them something, they don’t want to go at my pace. They are locked into doing things at warp speed and will sometimes start tapping on my screen to move us faster to the desired field, app, whatever. Thus, despite my more developed writing skills and lifetime store of knowledge and experience, I am made to feel I’m “slow” or “stupid” because I choose not to hurry on my cell phone. Clearly, what we value has changed, and that is the root of why communication has changed.
Do they really think that the lack of handwriting suddenly means that Gen Z lacks proper communication skills? Whether or not something is written by hand has nothing to do with its personal nature. I can agree, however, that we as a society continue to shift from needing handwritten items into a short-form world. Shifting from long form content into short form content will just mean that Gen Z and the generations after, not Gen A but B and Gen Z’s possible children; will be more concise and to the point! I do not think this is a bad thing, as it is a big step for humanity if it is true. Maybe being concise is the first step closer to having that togetherness again!
-A member of Gen Z
This article is so true. I have noticed that my grandchildren has WRITING ( let alone printing ), that is almost ineligible at times. The younger they are the WORST it is. It is so very sad to see parents not setting limits on how much time is spend in front of a screen. They do not go out of doors to play much any longer. I can remember my children taking their children out to play, not so much now!!