Tapping screens takes a toll on handwriting

Armed with new pens and pencils, about a hundred students participated in the event. As the event ended at noon, the school authorities announced that the winner would be announced in a couple of days and on Monday, they approached a few experts to examine the students’ handwriting.

Only when the experts and the teachers began to analyse the work, did they realise that almost none of the students’ handwritings deserved an award. In fact, their work was so terrible that the judges had a tough time deciding whom to declare winners since this was part of a competition. With much deliberation did the experts shortlist three names, half-heartedly.

The experts claimed that in this digital world, keyboards have taken over handwriting. This has also encouraged a tendency to dismiss handwriting as a non-essential skill. In other words, many children today are growing up without having to learn the looping, refined, cursive writing script that was demanded of their parents and grandparents when they were in school.

“Of late, handwriting skills have been on the decline in younger kids and this is due to their increased use of technology but it is important that we don’t ignore this skill,” said SK Ashok, a handwriting expert in Chennai.

He pointed out that even though keyboards and touch screens is the norm now, hand-to-eye coordination, the ability to focus and information retention may get affected if students spend too much time tapping away.

“Using notebooks and getting back to basics with handwriting can help with memory retention and absorbing information,” said Ashok.

K Chandra, a member of National Handwriting Association, said, “Handwriting is a crucial academic skill. The loss of this skill is like the loss of a language,” she said.

Speaking about the difficulties students face with handwriting, experts claimed that they may be experiencing difficulty in two areas: the mechanics of handwriting and expressing their ideas and views in writing. Difficulty in controlling a pencil or pen, forming letters, and putting space between letters and words makes writing disorderly and slow.

“Now-a-days, kids just admitted in schools lack the hand and wrist strength that those a decade ago,” said S Gayathiri, an occupational therapist in the city. She added that students are being unable to hold pens and pencils properly because they do not have the fundamental movement skill.

Fourteen-year-old S Annapoorani, from George Town, has trouble in writing clearly and blames her school for not conducting regular writing classes. “It is up to the teachers to create awareness about writing skills and help us learn from it,” she said.

Similarly, S Ganesh Kumar, a student of Class 9 from a private school at Chorompet, said that schools should dedicate one period each day to handwriting so that the students can improve their skills. “Once students pick up the skill, they will retain it even after they grow up,” he said.

Academicians claimed that many students, especially in the primary level classes, have trouble writing with clarity and this can discourage them from writing if they feel frustrated. “That’s where teachers and parents can make a big difference. Encouraging children to develop strong writing skills at a young age, and to become a better writer as they get older, can have a lifelong positive impact on them, and may make writing easier and more enjoyable,” K Savithiri Ravi, a retired school principal said.

Meanwhile, teachers stressed for parents’ involvement. “We have a short span of time to make them work on handwriting exercises. Hence, parents can chip in and make their children to write down at least couple of paragraphs from a newspaper,” said M Radhika, a teacher from a high school at Pammal. “Even if scribble, give them the chance to practice writing by helping them to sign birthday cards, write stories, and make lists,” she added.