Typing vs. Handwriting
Check out this New York Times article on the decline of handwriting skills since the advent of the keyboard.
I certainly can’t hand-write as fast, as well, or for as long as I used to. Heck, only 5 years ago I had a two-day handwritten examination for my Master’s in English. All handwritten, no computers allowed. I think I wrote something like 40 full pages (and we’re talking full pages here, none of this blue book half-page stuff). Granted, my hand was a claw by the end of it, but I did it.
Now it’s all I can do to write a 10 sentence thank-you note without my hand cramping up. The little muscles just don’t get used anymore since I’m not in school taking notes, handwriting to the family (everyone has e-mail now), or grading papers (which took a lot of writing, believe you me).
It kind of makes me sad, but on the other hand, I type like a banshee, so it’s much more efficient for recording my thoughts as they happen. Sometimes I fancy that I could even be a court recorder without the little shorthand device…ah, dreams of my next career 
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January 20th, 2005 at 3:24 pm
Banshees can type?
Seriously…I’ve found that I can’t type notes during a presentation or discussion without losing the thread of the presentation/discussion. As a result, I do a lot of handwriting at ALA and Midwinter (and Charleston Conference, and any other conferences I attend), a little during internal meetings…and almost none the rest of the time, but enough to go through one uniball Grip 0.02mm pen a quarter (the only pen fine enough so that I can almost read my awful writing).
I type 70wpm (after corrections), and I do all my composing (actual writing) at the computer (altho’ I might jot down ideas), so it’s not that I don’t prefer typing–just that the ear:keyboard link requires more of the brain than the ear:pen link.
Maybe it’s a generational thing. Maybe not.
January 20th, 2005 at 4:16 pm
A colleague just shared how concerned some of her children’s high school teachers are exactly because of what the article suggests–loss of the art of penmanship. How are these kids going to do on the essay portion of the new SAT?
The advantage I find in typing hand-written notes is how much more I retain when I “live” the material twice.
And yes, it is sometimes difficult to even write a grocery list but it comes back very quickly. Now for kids who hardly touch a pen…who knows.
January 21st, 2005 at 8:30 am
Yes, Walt…banshees can type
This banshee anyway. I wouldn’t say that this is a generational thing, but an experiental thing. I really didn’t start using computers much until 1995, but that’s been 10 years…
For me, the hand-pen connection takes much more brainpower. I’ve recently had to think about spelling more…I mis-spell words when I write much more than when I type. I don’t think it used to be that way, but now it is. I’ve even mis-spelled my name signing checks in the recent past.
April 13th, 2005 at 11:59 am
Funny, I misspell words when I am typing; words, which, if I were immediately to write by hand, I would automatically spell correctly. Why is this? I have never before in all of my adult life misspelled words until I began using a computer. The process seems to access a different part of my brain. Any ideas?
December 26th, 2005 at 12:09 pm
I also think that Typing has dominated the world. It’s not because it’s typing, it’s mainly because technology has taken over humans minds that now us humans have depended on technology to do out work for us. But I too use typing quite very much. I only handwrite when I’m in a rush or when I am at meetings and Council conferences. When in university I believe that it is much esier to type so then you can accomplish more tasks. Handwriting has not completley fanished, but typing may be faster and easier since we have more things on our minds then what we put into our computers.
January 16th, 2009 at 9:08 am
this is why tablets are so good. you can write with the stylus, and have the notes saved digitally and legibly. also, just throwing this out there, the essay on the SAT means nothing anymore; colleges typically care more about high school transcript and extracurricular activities now. trust me, I got a 4 (out of 12 or something) on the essay, and I landed scholarships and admittances to several respectable colleges.