The art of handwriting teaches us to control our hands and encourages hand-eye coordination.... [it]obliges us to compose the phrase mentally before writing it down. Thanks to the resistance of pen and paper, it does make one slow down and think. Many writers, though accustomed to writing on the computer, would sometimes prefer even to impress letters on a clay tablet, just so they could think with greater calm.Well, we might be writing more and more, but does it matter that we are doing it at the keyboard rather than by hand? Italian author Umberto Eco thinks that it does and his concerns are shared by many.
In the US there has been a great deal of public debate about the issue, here Associated Press writer Tom Breen looks at what is happening in American schools.
And Neil Hallows on the BBC website discovers that :
A century from now, our handwriting may only be legible to experts.I think handwriting matters too. I write differently when I write by hand. I am more in touch with my feelings. And the feel of a favourite pen flowing over good paper and forming your words is frankly sensuous. What do you think?
