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Writing in Developing Children Far Outpaces Typing

 In the digital age, classic writing on a piece of paper in the business world and increasingly in the public sector is slowly becoming a thing of the past. We have become accustomed to digital devices because they are easier, faster, more flexible, and mobile. We still accustom children in primary and secondary schools to writing papers, essays, and tests by hand. We think that perhaps screens are not suitable for young children and that it makes more sense to accustom them to a pen and physical toys and devices. Studies also support this, but the question is to what extent and how will handwriting survive in today’s era?

Advantages of technology

Let’s first look at some of the differences between physical and digital writing. Digital writing has its advantages, especially in terms of usability, adaptability, uniformity and speed. Modern tools allow us to make numerous adjustments and use preset parameters, which greatly increase the usability of the application in a given situation . Thus, we have templates for writing letters, making posters, writing invitations, automatically correcting slips of the tongue, etc. As a result, everything is faster and there are no syntactic errors. If we add to this the copy and paste options that digital tools have, we only reinforce the above statements. The end result is writing that is always the same shape and readable. All of these are, of course, the shortcomings of physical writing. Physical writing cannot compete with digital writing in the aforementioned characteristics, but it has other preferences. It creates strong connections with brain activity and, consequently, understanding of what is written. Writing stimulates the other part of the writing process. Writing is intended for two functions: recording information and developing thoughts. The first functionality means that writing serves to record a thought or agreement so that we do not forget it. The second functionality is about developing thoughts through writing. When we write and draw, we also develop thoughts and ideas at the same time, in accordance with a common thread that we can retain through writing. Thinking itself is extremely demanding without writing and we quickly lose meaning and forget our previous ideas. Through such a process, we develop an idea that is certainly more complete than an idea that we would develop freely from our head. The notes that we create while thinking are not necessarily intended to record data, they are some points of resistance for the thinker. In the end, in accordance with the first functionality, we can write down the developed idea for history.

Children should stay with the sheet of paper

Writing and drawing by hand has been proven to have a significant impact on understanding what is written. Children who are in the stage of brain and thought development should definitely write by hand as much as possible. Among the reasons for this is certainly the negative impact of screens on children’s eyes, but there are several arguments that directly promote the gliding of a pen across paper. The latter connects visual and motor coordination, which enables the memorization of both the meaning of letters and their shape. As a result, both hemispheres of the brain are activated and developed . In child development, this clearly means a significant advantage over typing, since the even development of visual and motor coordination is key for a child. Writing by hand has also been proven to improve the thought process and understanding of the topic being studied. Studies have shown that students who type are better at filling in facts, but worse at concepts. As a result, they understand the material studied worse and develop their thoughts (which I already talked about above). Memorizing factual knowledge without understanding is, of course, pointless, so it is good to accustom children to learning in a physical way as early as they are students. Of course, each person later finds their own way of learning, whether as a pupil, student, or in life in general, but it is positive that we show them a role model and a good way to travel from a young age.

Acquiring knowledge will also be easier in the workplace

In a business environment, it makes sense to use digital tools for data distribution, which ultimately allow us to stay in touch with the times and the competition. For development activities and complementing concepts within a company that require mental activity, according to studies, physical writing and developing ideas is an absolutely better solution. In practice, the problem often arises of how to actually share thoughts and develop them collectively, if we do not use modern digital tools. The solution lies in good, old magnetic boards, which allow several people to develop the same thing at the same time. Boards are a good solution, as they allow you to change and adapt notes, as well as attach accessories with magnets. You can read more about them in our articles and view them in our offer.

In conclusion, returning to the question from the introduction: to what extent and how will handwriting survive in today’s era? Personally, I believe that digital tools will of course completely take over the primacy in the field of data distribution, if they have not already done so in some places. Despite everything, there is a growing awareness of the harmfulness of screens for children and later for human health, so there will probably be an initiative against digitalization. I am convinced that handwriting is indeed more suitable for learning and developing thoughts, so I believe that handwriting will still be retained in kindergartens, schools and the most thought-oriented workplaces .

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