Dress Your Words

Digital or Analogue? That’s the question.

And it’s really an existential dilemma: the more we strive for technological innovation in every aspect of our lives, the more nostalgia arises for the way things used to be.

Via Pinterest by Lucy

We’ve got Spotify and Amazon Music, but the vinyl trend is skyrocketing. We’ve got pocket-sized phones that take amazing pictures, but we’ve simultaneously turned back to the old but gold Polaroid. We’ve got computers, tablets, and smartphones that allow us to send messages as quickly as ever, but we long for the times when we used to write with pen and paper…Wait.

Do we really miss those times? Those when, to send a message, people had to write and wait at least a week to receive an answer? Or those when, back in school, we had to fill in pages and pages of cursive letters, paying attention to their little strokes, fancy swirling, and traits’ height to fit in the lines of our notebook? Well, on this front, we seem quite satisfied with our current technological state. As satisfied as to replace writing with typing and as to cross the teaching of the cursive out from the US Common Core State Standards. Yes. That’s what’s happening. But at what cost? What are we losing by forsaking handwriting?

@ddaglobe Via IG

Typing VS Handwriting
Typing is indisputably fast and convenient. Even if we write something wrong ten times, we can erase things again and again without reducing paper to mush. If we don’t print anything, we consume no ink, and no paper skyscrapers will arise on our desks.
Moreover, the auto-corrector is like a personal assistant, pointing out our errors and suggesting the words to use next. And messaging platforms allow us to send the same message to hundreds of different people, in one second and one click. It might sound commonplace, but our daily lives would turn into hell if we could not copy and paste, share and receive, send and store, download and upload.
It’s therefore not surprising that, in a production-oriented culture, handwriting has mostly been replaced by typing. And nor should we turn back.

Key workers, writers at the typewriter, Via Pinterest

As Virginia Berninger – a psychologist at the University of Washington – states, keyboard skills are essential today, but the point is that it’s not a question of either/or: pen and paper still have their reason to exist, and we should not overlook handwriting and the teaching of cursive.
Handwriting in general not only improves composition and reading comprehension but also brain functions and motor skills. Cursive, on its side, helps speed up the learning of how to read and write, since it integrates hand-eye coordination, brain and memory functions, and fine motor skills.
That means that learning to shape letters and write texts by hand is an essential component of growing up. But once we’ve reached adulthood, we should keep practicing this ability, in order to exercise our memory and allow ourselves to express our thoughts by drawing them down on a piece of paper, directly giving them shape. But there is also another reason why writing – particularly in cursive – is important. Nobody shapes the letters as someone else does. Therefore, through our way of drawing words, we convey a deeper meaning to our message, adding a thicker layer of sense and telling the reader something about us.

Show me your handwriting, and I’ll tell you who you are
Graphology is not an exact science, but empirical evidence has been found supporting the connection between an individual’s handwriting style and their personality traits. In particular, our cursive identifies us as much as our physical features do.
Let’s think about it. Have you ever read a handwritten message and guessed what the writer was like? The particular shape of a letter or the wide spaces between the words are some of the clues that might have helped you form your judgment. According to graphologists, indeed, the shapes of individual letters are insights into cognitive processes. For example, angular letters mean analytical thinking and directness, whereas rounded ones reflect creativity. Moreover, any curlicues added at the beginning or end of each letter are an open door to the most intimate part of the unconscious of the writer, since they are spontaneous flourishes.
Lazy curls that can be found in an a or an o – usually in the final position of a word – outline that the writer is kind, but not born a leader. Very pronounced curls, on the contrary, emphasize that the person has a strong and self-confident character, sometimes also arrogant.
If words are written wide apart, the writer is likely to be independent and to have a need for personal space, while if they are written narrowly, they showcase a desire for strong social connections and closeness. Interesting is also the slant of a letter, often associated with emotional expression. Are your words right-slanted? You may be passionate and outgoing. Are they left-slanted? You’re likely to be reserved and introverted. If, on the contrary, your letters are perpendicular to the margin of the paper, you may have good self-control and a composed attitude. The size of the letters is an index as well: large handwriting is a detector for extroversion, while small letters suggest introversion and attention to details. If it is true that graphology is only an imaginative method to access the most remote part of the human mind, it is undeniable that writing is an art for all intents and purposes. Like drawing. And being an art, it’s also a means through which we can both express ourselves and our sensibilities and understand those of others.

The added value of a handwritten message
We are used to sending memes, reels, vocals, and text messages. But the sheer pleasure of opening a letter, feeling the paper, unfolding it, and immediately recognizing the handwriting of the sender is a luxury we have forgotten we can afford. Holding in our hands the same paper the person who wrote the message did establishes a stronger relationship between them and us, making us feel it as more concrete.“I love you” on WhatsApp is made up of the same letters it is made up on a piece of paper. But the power these words obtain through the calligraphy – and therefore, the personality – of the writer, is way bigger. Seeing handwriting as a means through which we can express ourselves and better understand others is enough to remind us to nurture this skill. Besides its being a key cognitive skills incubator, indeed, handwriting is a precious art, and we should not replace it, pain of losing an important part of ourselves.