Yes, I am writing about pens once again. Perhaps after yesterday’s stroll in the park post, you are wondering if finding topics is so difficult that I am just recycling old ones. In this case, it is not true. I ran across an article in The Atlantic, How the Ballpoint Killed Cursive, by Josh Giesbrecht.
The article is more about the invention and popularization of the ballpoint pen more than how ballpoints killed cursive. It is a good read in this regard. Basically, the subtitle of the article sums up the authors arguments: “Thicker ink, fewer smudges, and more strained hands.” Pencils and ballpoint pens require more pressure to write, thus causing hand strain which in turn causes folks to get less pleasure from the act of handwriting. As a result, people handwrite less and less. If people don’t handwrite as much as they used to, why spend time in school teaching cursive handwriting. For as much as people handwrite today, printing suffices for short notes and jotting this or that, here or there, throughout our day.
I think blaming the ballpoint for people writing less is a stretch. I would, more so, assign the blame to computers, laptops, pads, and smartphones. It is simply easier to type for most of our writing needs these days. We text and email on devices instead of sending handwritten letters and postcards. Texting and emailing are, in addition, practically instantaneous. The same applies to both formal and informal work-related communications. My guess is that the average person types more words a day today than the average person ever handwrote.
I like pens. I have fountain pens, but I really prefer and use ballpoints for 99.7% of my handwriting. When I started this writing project back in 2002, I set out to handwrite a page a day to document my fiftieth year on this planet. I handwrote a page a day for about seven or eight years. By the time I moved from a monthly e-letter to this blog in 2009, I started to gradually move from handwriting to typing. These days my writing is mostly done via keyboard.
In that long period of handwriting, I learned to use finer, heftier, pens that were easier to write with. I used to press down all the time when handwriting. I realized this and experimented with different pens and refills. I learned that with Parker, Cross, Caran D’Ache, and Waterman pens I don’t have to press so hard. My cursive handwriting got better and settled into a new style of curves, serifs, and flair. I would never call it beautiful handwriting, but it is pleasing to me. So, basically, I am rejecting Josh Giebrecht’s argument on why cursive writing has waned so much though I did like his article on the history of the ballpoint pen.
Innovation and technology often supplant the way we do things. In a certain part of the world, cuneiform on stone or clay tablets was the only handwriting mode. The clay tablets were replaced by papyrus and sheepskin. The triangular cuneiform was replaced by alphabets. Writing was done by feather quills dipped into ink. The fountain pen replaced the inkwell and quilly pens. Ballpoints, rollerball, and fiber-tipped pens replaced the fountain pen because the ink lasts longer, smears less, and require less fuss than fountain pens. Things change, people adapt… and they feel nostalgic for what was. Who carries a pen of any kind in the shirt or jacket pocket these days? I have no real statistics on this, but it is clearly way less than did so when I first began my career.
My only resolution I really made this year was to send more letters to friends and family. Using a fountain pen to write these letters was also part of the resolution. It has been a enjoyable. Let’s see how many people write back.
===
Here are a few of my pieces on handwriting and pens.
No comments:
Post a Comment