The Power Of Writing By Hand
When I was in school, my most favourite essay topic was ‘Computer: A Boon or A Bane’. Depending on my mood I would decide if I was for or against it. But even on the days when I would naïvely take a stance against it, I knew it was the future. A future that would make writing by hand less prevalent, if not obsolete.
I stumbled upon my mother’s to-do list the other day and saw how beautiful her handwriting was. Perfectly sized alphabets, spaced words, and consistency in pressure. I then looked at my own notebook — the words screamed mess. What went wrong?
As a student in the aughts, computers were not the primary form of notes taking and hence I have had my fair share of writing by hand. Additionally, the state education board in India is notorious for glorifying lengthy explanations to simple questions so writing excessively was a given. However, the minute I graduated college, my life became my computer and I never looked back. This, I can say is true for most people in my generation. But what happened was —
We retired ourselves from thinking on paper and started thinking on screen.
But what’s really wrong with that? Did we not spend a lot of our time developing the technology, learning to type as fast as we could, and avoided paper wastage? Sure we did. But the fact is, we left behind a skill that was developed over centuries. If you touch the basic pros of writing by hand, they are:
1. It slows down the thought and forces you to craft a sharper message
2. It improves hand-eye coordination due to the impact on motor skills
3. It is non-restricting: a blank page and a pen opens oneself up to possibilities in several directions
Now, in my opinion, it has practical and emotional applications too.
First, after struggling with various software and genius methods to solve a problem at work, I believe nothing comes close to capturing the vastness of space and thought line a blank sheet and a pen. Let me explain. For instance, a sales head is trying to increase distribution or understand the geography better. She is better off pulling out an actual map or draw one by hand, circle and assign territory leaders and deeply visualizing the coverage.
The tech-savvy might say this is all possible on virtual maps too and that’s a part of the problem — every software that synthesizes information on the screen is still piecemeal. Software for writing down tasks, another for notes, another for mind mapping etc., fragments the directive and unless one is absolutely confident about the gamut of work they always have and can anticipate every thought-triggering curveball that might be thrown at them, the software is moot.
Second, and this might get poetic, but a word, sentence, or a paragraph that is scratched off by hand, creates a system of healthy self-rejection and evaluation. Every time, there is a moment when something is not up to your standards, it will allow you to process things slowly, and make sure you don’t hasten the next time. The “delete” button on the computer, in comparison, provides lesser scope for self-growth.
DIY
Gloria Steinem, a renowned American journalist, author, and activist in her book Revolution from Within explains how writing by hand is the most effective way of thinking clearly. She brings to fore two concepts:
(1) writing with the “wrong hand” to combine thinking with physical strain
(2) writing as fast as possible so that there is no self-limiting censorship
As the age of adoption to keyboards gets younger by the day, we might need to hold on tightly to that pen and scribble our way into the future. When was the last time you thought it out on paper?
