Why Teach Handwriting in a Digital World?
With so much communication taking place digitally today, is there any point in still teaching children to write by hand? Isn’t handwriting just an increasingly archaic relic of a dying age?
While digital media has largely replaced handwriting as the normative means of communication, there is still a strong case to be made for teaching young people to write by hand. In this article, we will explore five reasons for teaching handwriting to your children (while each of these reasons pertains to handwriting in general, a few are more applicable to cursive handwriting in particular).
1. Cognitive and Motor Skills Development
Handwriting—especially cursive—enhances fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. It also engages multiple brain regions, promoting cognitive development and improving memory retention. Introducing handwriting at a young age enables children to begin honing these skills early on, setting a firm foundation for future writing development and problem-solving skills.
The relationship between handwriting and fine motor skills is not just one-directional; they are mutually reinforcing. Handwriting improves fine motor skills, and fine motor skill development improves handwriting. Hand manipulation skills, for example, have been directly correlated to handwriting ability (Case-Smith, 1993).
2. Reading and Writing Fluency
Handwriting has many benefits in terms of reading ability and a child’s writing fluency. This is especially true of cursive in particular. Learning cursive helps students recognize letters and words more quickly, aiding in reading fluency. It also supports writing speed and legibility, which can be beneficial for note-taking and written exams. It is an adequate preparation for the more advanced writing assignments they will encounter in later grades. And it is a good idea for them to become familiarized with the forms of the cursive letters so they will be able to differentiate cursive letters when they inevitably encounter them later in life.
3. Information Retention
Writing by hand has been shown to improve information retention. The act of physically forming letters and words helps encode information more effectively in the brain compared to typing, leading to better recall and understanding. Studies have consistently shown that handwriting on paper is more effective for learning than typing on a keyboard. The movements of the hand during the act of handwriting also allow for easier memorization of new words.
Mood is improved as well, as the exercise of muscle memory involved in the act of writing makes one “happier” than typing. This is because the release of serotonin is linked to the level of motor activity being performed; higher degrees of motor activity result in higher levels of serotonin, the body’s “feel-good” chemical (Kavanaugh, 2022).
Interestingly enough, research suggests that children can still reap these benefits by using a digital pen. It is the muscle movement of manipulating a pen that is important, not whether the pen is being used on paper or a digital pad (Ihara, 2021).
4. Historical and Personal Connection
The Roman orator has a famous quote, “It is not so much noble to know Latin as it is a shame not to know it.” We might say the same thing about learning cursive handwriting. Can someone get by in the 21st century without cursive? Sure. But there’s so much that is missed by not knowing it! Knowing cursive writing provides a link to historical documents and literature, allowing students to access and appreciate primary sources. Additionally, it fosters a personal connection to writing, making written communication more meaningful and expressive. Many young people who learn cursive are eager to send letters to their friends written in cursive, as it is a medium uniquely suited to personal expression.
5. They’re Still Going to Need to Write
Finally, despite the ubiquity of digital communication today, there are still plenty of occasions in life where your kids will need to write. They will need to jot a message down at work quickly; they will have to take a written assessment; they will want to send a friend a handwritten letter or write a heartfelt message in a card; they will want to keep a journal, or someone will hand them a legal pad and ask them to take notes at a meeting; heck, your child might get grounded and need to write one hundred sentences by hand. Even if digital communication is displacing handwriting, handwriting will not go away entirely anytime soon. Therefore, it is of great practical value for your child to learn how to write and do so legibly.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are many practical and developmental reasons why teaching your child handwriting makes sense. Digital communication may be on the ascent, but there will always be a time for getting out the old-fashioned lined paper and pencils for some writing practice.
What are your thoughts on this topic? To continue the discussion, join me and other homeschooling parents at our Homeschool Connections Community or our Facebook group!
Works Cited
Case-Smith, J. (1993). Comparison of in-hand manipulation skills in children with and without fine motor delays. Occupational Therapy Journal of Research, 13(2), 87-100
Ihara AS, Nakajima K, Kake A, Ishimaru K, Osugi K, Naruse Y. Advantage of Handwriting Over Typing on Learning Words: Evidence From an N400 Event-Related Potential Index. Front Hum Neurosci. 2021 Jun 10;15:679191.
Kavanagh JJ, Taylor JL. Voluntary activation of muscle in humans: does serotonergic neuromodulation matter? J Physiol. 2022 Aug; 600(16):3657-3670.
