Qwerty
Yesterday I had my car repaired because of pot hole damage to the suspension. To instigate the process I needed to sign and date a form authorising the work. This caught me by surprise and I needed to pause and then write my signature. This moment then lingered in the back of my mind. Then it occurred to me this morning, when did I last actually write? Spending most of my time using a keyboard the majority of my communication is typed. How often do you actually write?
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Thoughts
Considering that very question, then there are times when I write notes, reminders. Those slips of paper that are dotted around us gathering dust and awaiting our attention. But that’s really it. The signature and date being the other. I’ve not hand written a letter in ages!
This then leads to the questions:
- Will I lose my ability to write by hand?
- Is handwriting redundant?
- Will future generations need to write by hand?
Thoughts rather than answers:
- Despite the pause. The effort to retrieve the skill from the depths of my mind. There is the early age imprint of the skill learnt at school. The things you learn at that age of development being the ones that could be considered to be the foundational ones for your life. For me, riding a bicycle comes into the same category.
- At the moment, clearly not but it’s use seems to be less and becoming more so. Identity through ID, digital or physical replacing the need to sign separate documents.
- Handwriting is a communication technology. Technology changes. Therefore I believe its possible. That handwriting will become a historical skill destined to be a demonstrated art form of what once was. But if that does happen then will we have lost something? One of our connections to the physical world.
Keyboard
But what of the replacement we now use? The ‘QWERTY’ layout that is used. The one I’m using as I type this. But might not be the layout you use as there are others.
I know its from the traditional typewriter. There to prevent the keys being stuck. But reading en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QWERTY there is more history to be understood.
Now though the keyboard I’m using, whilst still being a mechanical one (a Ducky One Two TKL silent red because I type a lot), does not suffer from sticking keys. Yet the layout remains, there for the other benefits and to suit those that had experiences of learning to type on a typewriter. Now the layout has stuck, there to be the standard even though aspects of its past have been made redundant. That those new to typing on whatever technology they use will become familiar with the layout and perhaps never touch a typewriter.
Not a conclusion but a pause of thought
The keyboard is now the successor to generating the written word. The characters coming from what was once hand written. Thus the past influences the future. Aspects creep in and become permanent features of our behavioural communication need that binds our societies together.
What do you think?
- Dynamic lines – 16th November 2025
- Qwerty – 16th October 2025
- Reactive? – 16th September 2025
I’ve actually been writing by hand more of late, especially since I bought a tablet with good handwriting input.
Dear Anonymous,
Have you found that experience more enjoyable than typing?
Kind regards,
Gareth
I often feel the same.
90% of my writing used to be within emails, and 10% in Apple Notes, lol.
But as I’ve got two young children I find myself writing a lot more, with them, and for them, to help them develop their skills.
And this experience has certainly reminded my how important and useful actual writing is !
Dear Stuart,
Oh interesting. The value of writing being fundamental to our sense of self identity, our own style of writing that we develop when we’re growing up. To become almost an artform that is unique.
Since writing the article its made me notice that I still write notes on post-its and notebooks as the fastest medium to describe something to somebody when you’re face to face. Such as C pointers to an array of byte sized characters in memory as I was doing the other day.
Kind regards,
Gareth
Personally the written word was how I successfully got through university. I returned to study in my late forties, and found writing down my lecture notes was the best way for me to retain knowledge. I didn’t know it at the time, but later read about research on the process of writing and how it engages your brain in scripting the letters into words, and the benefits to retaining knowledge. Here is a 2025 research article, The Neuroscience Behind Writing: Handwriting vs Typing – Who Wins the Battle? https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11943480/ – a bit long, but gives a good insight into the neural benefits of handwriting.
Dear Anonymous,
Thank you for your reply. I scanned though the research article and it goes into quite a bit of depth. It seems to me that its indicating that the more we engage our brain in the process of learning (by writing) then that helps with retention of the knowledge. I returned to university in my late thirties and resurrected the same note hand written taking process that I’d used previously, which I now understand from what you’ve said has helped to reinforce the learning. Oddly I’ve never found revision for me as effective. The retention being the memory of the lecture / practical itself.
Kind regards,
Gareth