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The End of Handwriting

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31–40 of 338 posts

Re: The End of Handwriting

#31
I don't think handwriting will go away, it might become a "proof of work" in an age of artificially generated texts. I recently started including the manually written manuscripts (that I make on my reMarkable) with my blog posts to show folks I actually wrote them. See https://willem.com/en/2025-08-19_android-photo-library-app/

When everybody is jumping towards AI and digital texts, what remains may become more valuable. I don't know, but am keen on finding out.

Re: The End of Handwriting

#32

I'm a software developer, so I type a lot. Typing is very practical for throughput and speed. But I still make time for writing by hand. I find it to be very valuable, because it forces me to think differently about things and sit with ideas longer. I also find journaling almost impossible to do on a computer but very accessible in a notebook. Writing by hand is also portable and adaptable. You can write on paper, su…

No constraints when writing. Not having to fit your thoughts into some predetermined format on the computer helps.

Re: The End of Handwriting

#33
post #7

I don't see a lot of people still writing with quills, and there's a reason for that, yet there have been no catastrophic consequences, excepting maybe for "Big Quill". Personally, I think this veers into hyperbole a bit. The degradation in motor skills is barely measurable when compared to common tasks required of people today and we're talking about a skill that has less and less use cases every day. I believe this…

If you don't want to be replaced by machine you need a skill which machine can't replicate and train that skill somehow. Or become a very good machine operator.

Re: The End of Handwriting

#35
Given that blue books are likely to make a comeback in college as one solution to AI based cheating, I think that rumors of handwriting's death are somewhat exaggerated. Unfortunately that means that the ability to write in cursive might become a class marker, but given that being literate is likely to also become a class marker, not sure it is worth worry about >_<.

Re: The End of Handwriting

#36
post #34

I do a lot of writing by hand, and I have books and loose papers to write in, and several pencils and erasers. I also use the computer for writing, but perhaps just as often I write by hand.

what is your profession?

Not OP but I write by hand daily, I take all my meeting notes by hand and all my personal notes by hand too actually. Over a full day I probably do an hour or so of writing. I also often lug quite a few different notebooks around with me (agenda, customer notes, meeting scratch, brainstorming/abstracting): https://s.h4x.club/8LuKkvpP - I'm a bizniz person on the strategy/growth side of things.

Re: The End of Handwriting

#37
post #35

Given that blue books are likely to make a comeback in college as one solution to AI based cheating, I think that rumors of handwriting's death are somewhat exaggerated. Unfortunately that means that the ability to write in cursive might become a class marker, but given that being literate is likely to also become a class marker, not sure it is worth worry about >_<.

Writes and Writes-Nots https://paulgraham.com/writes.html

Re: The End of Handwriting

#38
post #35

Given that blue books are likely to make a comeback in college as one solution to AI based cheating, I think that rumors of handwriting's death are somewhat exaggerated. Unfortunately that means that the ability to write in cursive might become a class marker, but given that being literate is likely to also become a class marker, not sure it is worth worry about >_<.

I guess I've been out of college for a decade now. Did they get rid of blue books or something? I was forced to always sit with handwritten exams, including some CS ones.

Re: The End of Handwriting

#39
There's a thing in China where younger generations have to write out the pinyin for certain words when writing notes by hand. (I'm not sure if it's because they've forgotten the characters, or just how to write them. Maybe a little of both?)

So for example, if someone is jotting down a grocery list, they'll write common words like rice or milk in Hanzi, but then struggle to remember the characters for deodorant, and just write it out using pinyin.

There's a lot of hand-wringing about it there as well. Kids these days!

Re: The End of Handwriting

#40
post #10

PSA for people with "bad cursive handwriting" but who would like to improve it: Write with FOUNTAIN PENS. Ideally on thicker paper, with something soft below (like more paper for example). Different writing systems evolved alongside different utensils. Cursive evolved to be written with a quill or a fountain pen. Ballpoint pens are an amazing invention and they have their place, but they optimize for price and practi…

No, fountain pens have a "cool" factor and can be made for decorative stuff, but that's it. Sure the super cheap bic pens that come in boxes of 100 aren't great, but that's because they're cheap (besides being inexpensive). Something like those G2 gel pens that are also available everywhere for not very much (fairly inexpensive, but not pejorative-cheap) these days work just fine.

Fountain pens still have small edge over good gel pen, but that's significant only if you write a lot.
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