The loss of the written word?

Several friends brought this to my attention over the weekend. It's from the February 3 edition of the BBC News magazine online. It's entitled, "A Point of View: Mourning the loss of the written word."  It's a wonderful piece of writing and expresses some sentiments I believe we share, as well as some excellent points to ponder. It focuses on the letters and opinions of Virginia Woolf, and referring to Woolf's missives, the BBC author ends with the following: "Today's electronic forms of communication may lack that emotional depth but they do enable us to connect more speedily and efficiently than I at least could manage with pen and ink. Still, when we take advantage of them, we ought always to heed Woolf's warning, never to write carelessly. And, if we can, at least count to 10, and read over what we have written, before we press "send."


Image courtesy of Simon Howden.

Writing for Culture

I was talking to my son-in-law, a filmmaker and teacher at a private boys’ school. We were discussing the trials and challenges of trying to teach teen-age boys anything, never mind the subtleties and details of the history of filmmaking, which is part of his curriculum. He was telling me how the kids frequently question their need to know the topic and how his response is always the same: “Like literature or music or art, film is an important part of our culture.” And I got to thinking about pens, of course.

I’m usually taken aback when people say they have no interest in handwriting—theirs or anyone else’s—or the implements used to write. To many, pens and writing seem an anachronistic nuisance in today’s world of computers, hand-held communication devices, and the like. I agree that we should avail ourselves of all the great technology around us. But to go back to filmmaking for just a moment, Avatar would probably never have been made were it not for King Kong.  It’s all part of our evolution of ideas and practices, I believe. But is it appropriate to say that the pen is the very distant and direct cousin of the computer? Probably not, other than the fact that they are both used to formulate and communicate. Their evolutionary branches are too far apart. But still, I think it’s important not to let one flourish at the huge expense of the other, since, to quote my son-in-law, each is an important part of our culture.

I recently read that the decline in penmanship skills is indeed a sorry state of affairs, since handwriting forces our brain to react in a very specific and positive way. But equally important is the fact that if you can’t write in longhand, you probably can’t read it either, which makes a vast store of knowledge unavailable. Old manuscripts, famous documents and the like will need to be deciphered like an unfamiliar language that is, strangely, our own. 

Poll Results

The poll results to my question, "Are you sending handwritten holiday cards this year?" provided some interesting insights. At least to me. Forty-eight percent of the respondents answered, "Yes, as usual." Twenty-eight percent said, "Yes, but fewer than last year." Eight percent said, "No, I've decided not to," and 16% said "No, I never have." The best part? Not one respondent answered positively to, "I'm sending e-cards." In light of time constraints and the economy, I think this bodes well. On another note, I received more business e-cards than ever before, but I also received a ton of handwritten greetings. I must admit that though I appreciate them all, I have a special love for the handwritten greetings, and I save them from year to year. Happy new year, all, and keep writing!

Score another one for the handwritten word

Last week, the online Wall Street Journal business section featured an article entitled, "How Handwriting Trains the Brain." In it, author Gwendolyn Bounds outlines the many reasons that writing by hand is good for kids (it can improve idea composition and expression and may aid fine motor-skill development, among other things) and why it's good for adults--it can keep the cognitive abilities of aging baby boomers on point. It seems that neural activity in the brain is different when we consciously form symbols as opposed to simply choosing a whole letter on a keyboard. So the next time you take out your favorite pen and paper and start to write, remember that you are doing your brain a favor.