I had a junior high principal with handwriting so remarkable that I would ask him to write something just so I could appreciate his penmanship. It was art. When was the last time you saw someone with beautiful handwriting? I think it’s becoming a lost art because of the digital environment we live in.
I love to write, but I have found myself struggling to do so well lately. I’ve spent some time thinking about contributing environmental factors that could change forever how we think about well written text. They include the following:
- Small keyboards translate into cool gadgets, but very inefficient input devices that encourage brevity. (Have you tried to type anything other than a brief response on an iPhone?)
- SMS, Twitter, and other services limit responses and encourage abbreviations and shortcuts (although I will admit that it makes you think twice about your writing).
- Due to the volume of material we are exposed to every day, communication has to be quickly digestible (giving way to bullet points and executive summaries).
- Instant messaging encourages the ultimate lazy writing where capitalization and punctuation are often omitted. Sometimes I wonder if my12 year old could type a normal sentence.
If there really is a change happening because of these factors, where is it taking us? Will the talented authors of tomorrow be ones that type novels 140 characters at a time or will there always be room for the Tom Clancy’s of the world with their descriptive imagery? I believe things are changing, but would love to know what other people think.
I am left handed and so I feel very cheated in the handwriting dept. I’ve never had good handwriting, and I don’t think that I ever will. When I write by hand I ususally end up with ink or graphite all the way down my arm. Learning how to type saved my entire wardrobe!