I used to write by hand but going back to the last decade or even before that I have transitioned to typing all text. I cannot even remember when did this transition happen. This exercise was gruelling and my hands were getting numb from the pain. I thought that it was going to be a breeze, but it turned out to be harder than I thought! I was watching the clock and I realized that it took me longer than I expected. I had to watch for finger space. I understand now why some of my students refuse and dread to write by hand. Luckily, I am a good speller I owe it to my old school teachers! I had to stop a few times and give myself a break. I noticed that I am not as fluent as before with my handwriting. It is not as legible, since I hardly write anything by hand except if I am marking my student’s work or writing a short note. I am a perfectionist so I gave myself enough time to write my first draft and this was my second draft. I wish I could type it out, since I feel more in control typing with the grammar and spell checker. If I made a mistake I usually use a whiteout and I do not like scribbling and crossing over any errors in my writing. The choice of media definitely played a big part in how I edited my writing. The most significant difference between writing by hand and using mechanized forms of writing is my ability to keep up with my ideas. I kept losing my train of thoughts. My thoughts seem transient when I am hand writing and my brain is faster than my hands which can be frustrating. I prefer typing, although sometimes I miss having a pencil grip when I get a quiet moment for myself to ponder over world matters. There is something therapeutic for me about putting pencil to paper and perhaps I yearn to these old days. This was another eye-opening activity about the significant role that technology plays in our lives. It took me a while to get started on this task and I felt hesitant to start. I was even fussing about which pen to use.
I am fascinated by your comments about your brain going so much faster than your hands and the “transient” nature of the handwriting experience. It speaks so strongly to the biological aspect of the act.
Thanks for your writing; it seemed so personal and im-personed, if that makes sense.
Hi Rania,
I found it interesting when you mentioned that you would lose your train of thought because this happens to me when I am typing. Often I will accidentally type out repeated words but this does not seem to happen when I am writing by hand, most likely because I am more worried about making mistakes in this format.
Personally I have been making myself write things out more by hand over the past year because I also found that when I had stopped typing writing things by hand for a long period of time, my handwriting had become atrocious.
This is quite a tale. I am very interested to know what you have spotted. Mr. Ko, I have the same issues with typing versus handwriting. My thoughts travel one word at a time while handwriting. Typing allows me to process the following sentence or idea even as I am only half way through the present sentence. Thank god for the Backspace button.
I agree Ryan! I prefer typing to handwriting, although I did not grow up with computers.