I have seen many claims that handwriting is better, and maybe it is going to be our new trend when everyone calls for “returning to essentials, which made us intelligent in the first place”. There are articles reflecting scientific research related to the topic. However, even they underline that it is not as straightforward as you might think, so you should not abandon your laptops immediately. We should carefully consider the situation where we have smart devices that are able to alleviate all hard work connected to writing or keeping our notes and the benefits of using traditional cursive.
So, let’s accept the fact that handwriting is actually better. Many scholars admit that using a pen is far more preferable in the sense of making our brain work more active and prolific. The activity forces our brain areas related to learning and memorization to work simultaneously with those responsible for moving our hands! What a beautiful chance to kill two birds with one stone, you can say. And that’s what I think, too. We must use it widely in our daily routine, especially if we’re deeply connected to working with texts, documents, and everything related to human languages. It should be mandatory in companies and regulated by the law like in California, to promote the idea of cursive wider possible, which effectively would lead to better memory and brain functioning. In my opinion, many people would eventually get comfortable with using paper notebooks again, as it gives a great sensation of expressing one’s ideas on a physical paper, the scent of ink humans already have forgotten, and the weight of the notebook in their backpacks. You do not need to charge it, it is always there waiting for you. What a wonderful comeback, Paper!
However, we just can’t throw away our computers, they’re too convenient and important to us, to humanity! And the majority of people would agree that typing is just faster, not only to put somewhere information but to edit it. If you make a typo while typing, you just fix it in a second, that’s it. With paper, things are far more complicated, especially if you use a pen. And do not forget about special software we all got used to, named spellcheckers. They magically make your text close to ideal, who would reject it? I think no one.
So, what to do with the benefits of handwriting on the one hand and the convenience and speed of computers on the other one? Should we combine them? But how? Maybe we should use handwriting for making conclusions or summarizing our understanding of an article, and use laptops for more advanced work with texts? For example, imagine there is an article you have to write. Or an essay. You can use a notebook to create a blueprint for the essay, and then implement that plan on a computer. Or you can use a pocket notebook to write down the innermost thoughts that enter your head. Many people find it useful when used to remember words in a foreign language, like flashcards. Handwritten, they are extremely helpful to carve important information in your memory for an extended period of time.
As usual, mindfulness and conscious actions are the keys to making an important decision similar to this one: whether you should use cursive or keyboard for your job and personal tasks. Ancient wisdom tells: do not to put all eggs in one basket. Use everything you have at your disposal and become better and stronger. It is the only way we can use tools from our past in our present, mixing them with cutting-edge technologies we are all proud of.
