After seeing the way the a good portion  of youth type, I sure hope they aren't losing handwriting skills for computer skills. For example " hey bff 4 lifezz, wut r u do n lol"


No offence to any one, particularly the younger crowd here, but I am surprised I haven't seen any one type like this on the forum. Mind you I am fairly new here.

My writing has always been crap, despite the fact I love to write stories, which I used to do on paper before I owned a good decent computer, it never ever improved. Children may be losing some handwriting skills, but typing is advantageous and better for a whole number of reasons, so is them losing some handwriting skills to learn typing skills a bad thing?

I doubt it. After you learn how to write it's not really like your handwriting continues to improve. So after children learn to write and then do more typing than writing it should cause their writing to become worse.  Besides a lot of people's writing look like scribbles anyway and this is true of adults who grew up without computers.

True, but I think they will eventually pick up handwriting skills. Look at adults, do you often see adults with illegible handwriting?

My writings also always been crap even before I started typing and I grew up having to write a lot more than I type schools are hard places for bad handwriting people like me :p but yeah what do parents know tch.

Well there wasn't much technology when i was a child and my handwriting is appalling i think its all about the child really,

I believe this, because they are starting to use their computers more than their hands to write, it all makes sense. My handwriting isn't really terrible though, and my typing speed is actually not half bad .

Yes it is probably true. Each generation loses an older skill that the previous generation has as they make advances in technology unless someone takes it upon themselves to personally instill the skill into someone of the new generation. People who have decided to hop off of the technological advancement of the world like the Amish will more than likely retain what ever skills their that parent's possessed  since they remain an integral part of life no matter how long time goes on. Hand-writing is still an essential skill today, but in the future when computers take over for all forms of writing, it will become obsolete. Signatures will probably just become watermarks. The pencil and paper, will probably still exist though since art is something many people like to do without computers and computers will never be able to mimic exactly, the feeling of holding a wooden brush or pencil in your hand unless the invent a way to absorb your body into the computer itself. Then, I'm not sure what would happen from there.

I believe that we are losing this old-as-time art, but I only think it depends on choices. As a college student, I (usually) am required to submit papers that follow standard practice of Times New Roman (font), double-spaced, etc. Rarely have I been required to had anything in that I hand wrote. However, I still try to hand write my rough drafts and notes as I feel I am faster that way. I always felt that my handwriting was bad until my own mother looked at my work and told me a did a nice job. She taught me cursive when I was in grade school. ... I think I went off on a tangent there, but anyway... I think it depends on what parents wish to teach their children. I believe they can still learn how to write, even though we use electrical devices more and more each day.

Perhaps. I think I lost the ability to write cursive some time ago, but I can still write in print much faster than I can type.

I think that both handwriting and typing skills are a vital skill in today's society. I mean, most of the skills you need for a job need both. 

I guess it depends on the person. I type loads more and loads faster than I write, but I still think that I have pretty good handwriting. But then again, I spent the first fourteen years of my life writing more than typing, so I'd like to think that I fine-tuned my writing skills before my typing skills. =| Some kids who never write at all, though, will not have the writing skills at all. 

I always felt it was something that should be learned and mastered to some degree. My writing is almost always a semi messy-messy cursive, but most people who tries to read my writing can't hand-write or read clean handwriting anyways. Even if you can't hand write quickly or cleanly, I think it's important to be able to read it, at the very least, as a lot of documentations that is not typed is hand written. A perfect example is a few months ago I was studying some documents around 120 to 140 years old, and it was entirely handwritten. Had I not have had experience hand writing and reading it, my studies would have been neigh on impossible to do or complete. 

Being a writer, I always found it easier to hand write on pen and paper than type anything that is vaguely creative, as it feels more natural despite typing since a somewhat early age. It is an art form, and many writers creates their most beautiful forms of art through pen and paper, and almost always hand writing.

To answer the question in full, it depends on expectations. My old class during high school had virtually no concept of handwritten material because they were never expected to do it past I believe 6th grade beyond very limited spells. However, I still see a lot of younger people learning and mastering this form of communication. I do expect pen and paper to stay around for a while yet, especially as far as signatures goes...it is harder to forge a signature than a watermark, from what i seen and personal experiences (nothing illegal was involved).

my handwriting is the same but i can spell better now because of google chrome telling me a word is spelled wrong with the red line on the bottom

In the summer I was on the computer a lot and I kind of lost confidence in my handwriting think I would be doing a lot of mispellings but it turns out that it still have good handwriting.

Yes they are, eventually. A few generations from now children will have no chance in hell of being able to write at all, much less have good handwriting. As much as I don't like it, the fact is it's a dying art, like books. I love reading a real book. Turning pages, the heft, the smell of a new book. Every thing's going digital. It'll be all e-books and e-mails. At least we'll still have books in some form.

This is probably true, but I think it depends on the child. In my school, we mostly use computers for writing pieces, but some kids have beautiful handwriting. 

WooGie502: But aren't most books past the 1600's printed? The only place you could find a handwritten book is in a museum or Vatican City. 

For adults/young adults, yes. For kids in elementary school, no. My fiancee is an elementary school teacher, and I was recently talking to her about this. Writing is a standard for elementary schools everywhere (at least public schools). All of their work is done by hand in order to improve writing skills. Assignments typically aren't required to be typed until later grades (typically starting in middle school) so they can develop handwriting. So they are getting practice. But if parents don't have their children write at home, then it will affect it. Unless a school is not following nationwide standard (which they will have consequences for), this isn't the case. But once we enter the grades where they start requiring typed assignments, writing isn't of much concern. I am in the category of not being affected because my handwriting sucked anyway. But it also hasn't declined because my paperwork for the mental health center has to be in pen. But for those who just do away with writing altogether are going to likely decline. 

I mean, I've always been horrible with handwriting. But it won't matter soon because just watch, everything will be typed.