I almost never write by hand anymore, though I used to when I was younger. I was born in 1978 so computers were not part of my elementary or really even high school education. My handwriting has always been terrible, but I always felt that when writing by hand, there exists a strong connection between my thoughts and the way they spill onto the page. Unfortunately, my brain works faster than my hand can keep up, which only makes my penmanship look even worse. Over time, as I have become a better typist, I have learned to develop a similar connection between my mind and the keyboard. However, it took years to reach that fluency. It’s so interesting to me that my own child has never had to write a five paragraph essay in cursive. His cursive is so terrible in fact, that now, in his 20’s, his signature resembles that of a child and I must believe it is from a total lack of practice in writing. Where I always felt ashamed of my poor penmanship, I have never judged his because I understand that even though we are less than 20 years apart in age, we grew up in completely different worlds, just as I did from the world my parents knew before me.
This particular task felt particularly fun and even therapeutic. I haven’t filled a page in such a long time, and to my surprise, my handwriting wasn’t as bad as I remembered. I even felt a sense of satisfaction with how it turned out. At the same time, I noticed something unsettling: I hesitated with certain spellings, which made me wonder if my reliance on spellcheck has dulled that skill. It reminds me of bigger questions about how tools like AI might affect critical thinking in the future if students of today are never forced to hack their way through the world of high school English all on their own, as I did.
As I made mistakes writing this assignment, I either went over them in pen, scratched them out, or tried to cover them creatively. I don’t own white-out anymore, so my errors are permanently visible. During my undergrad, I did have a laptop computer, though I still chose to write all my first drafts by hand. I found that transcribing that handwritten draft to a computer was a natural way to edit, since I would automatically refine and tighten the language while typing. These days I would most likely use AI to help me in that process.
In the end, the biggest difference I noticed between handwriting and typing is speed and accuracy. Writing by hand feels more personal, but typing allows me to keep up with my thoughts. At this point, I prefer typing, though I admit, handwriting has a charm I miss.
In addition to the photo of my work, I’d like to leave you with a TikTok Snagit of which this assignment reminded me. It reiterates how quickly the world can change in just one generation. After listening to the podcasts assigned for this week’s readings, which talk about how paper might have been invented in China up to 1000 years ago, the rate of change in communication technology today – the chasm that exists between Gen Z’s perception of the world compared to my own – is absolutely astonishing.
References:
guesswho_718. (n.d.). [Video]. TikTok. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=3026232507413213
Lamb, R., & McCormick, J. (Hosts). (2020, May 26). From the vault: Invention of the book, part 1 [Audio podcast episode]. In Stuff to blow your mind. iHeartRadio. https://www.iheart.com/podcast/211-stuff-to-blow-your-mind-26941221/episode/from-the-vault-invention-of-the-63341331/
Lamb, R., & McCormick, J. (Hosts). (2020, May 28). From the vault: Invention of the book, part 2 [Audio podcast episode]. In Stuff to blow your mind. iHeartRadio. https://www.iheart.com/podcast/211-stuff-to-blow-your-mind-26941221/episode/from-the-vault-invention-of-the-63372379/