{"id":3495,"date":"2018-01-18T10:53:02","date_gmt":"2018-01-18T10:53:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/?p=3495"},"modified":"2018-01-18T10:53:02","modified_gmt":"2018-01-18T10:53:02","slug":"why-handwriting-is-so-important","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/handwriting\/why-handwriting-is-so-important\/","title":{"rendered":"Why handwriting is so important"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"handwriting\"

Image credit: ngad\/BigStock.com<\/p><\/div>\n

With discussion in the news lately about whether schools should continue to teach cursive handwriting or not, you could be forgiven for seeing handwriting as an unimportant aspect of a modern, digital life. However, I believe that handwriting should be treasured, and I\u2019ll outline the reasons why below. Sure, there\u2019s a place in our lives for word processing \u2013 in fact, I confess, I didn\u2019t write this blog post out by hand before typing it up! \u2013 but in certain scenarios, nothing can replicate or beat the simple combination of pen and paper.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an excellent way to learn<\/h1>\n

Writing by hand stimulates a part of the brain called the Reticular Activating System (RAS); a part not stimulated by the act of typing. In short, this means that you are far more likely to recall words or information you write by hand compared to words\/information you read or type. This works the same for children and adults.<\/p>\n

It uses more of your brain than typing<\/h1>\n

While some of the same parts of your brain are used for typing as writing by hand, to write legibly with a pen or pencil, fine motor control is needed over your fingers. This uses an extra part of your brain, meaning you are more engaged in the task at hand.<\/p>\n

There are no distractions<\/h1>\n
\"writing

Image credit: tortoon\/BigStock.com<\/p><\/div>\n

Typing can be much quicker than handwriting at times, however the device you are typing on \u2013 be it a PC, laptop or tablet \u2013 is often full of distractions. Keeping it simple with your pen and paper means you can concentrate fully on the task at hand and not on notifications for social media apps, email accounts, and such.<\/p>\n

It can improve your writing<\/h1>\n

If you are a writer, it has often been claimed that writing by hand, at least for the initial bones of a story, can inspire creativity and essentially make you a better writer. You are forced to think about every word and sentence that you write, as opposed to typing on a computer, where you throw down any old words, knowing you can easily alter or delete them later. In fact, editing as you go along can interrupt your flow, and be counterproductive.<\/p>\n

It is personal<\/h1>\n

Your handwriting is as personal as your fingerprints, and loved ones appreciate receiving something handwritten from you much more than something typed. Not just loved ones either \u2013 you could really stand out after a job interview, for example, by handwriting a thank you note to the interviewer. \u00a0Also, writing by hand offers a sense of personal achievement and ownership that typing simply cannot emulate.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s part of our cultural identity<\/h1>\n

When you look at how those from other countries write their English language characters compared to natives, it is clear to see that handwriting is not only unique to each person, but also unique to each country.\u00a0For example, British natives often cross their T\u2019s once they have completed the word they are writing, whereas non-native English writers might cross the T as soon as they form the letter because of how they were taught.<\/p>\n

Featured image credit: ngad\/BigStock.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With discussion in the news lately about whether schools should continue to teach cursive handwriting or not, you could be forgiven for seeing handwriting as an unimportant aspect of a modern, digital life. However, I believe that handwriting should be treasured, and I\u2019ll outline the reasons why below. Sure, there\u2019s a place in our lives…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":3498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy handwriting is so important - The Pen Company Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Why handwriting is so important: a blog post by The Pen Company exploring the many reasons why writing by hand should be celebrated.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/handwriting\/why-handwriting-is-so-important\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why handwriting is so important - The Pen Company Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Why handwriting is so important: a blog post by The Pen Company exploring the many reasons why writing by hand should be celebrated.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/handwriting\/why-handwriting-is-so-important\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Pen Company Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ThePenCompany\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-01-18T10:53:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/bigstock-197328631.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lucy Williams\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@thepencompany\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@thepencompany\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lucy Williams\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/handwriting\/why-handwriting-is-so-important\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/handwriting\/why-handwriting-is-so-important\/\",\"name\":\"Why handwriting is so important - The Pen Company Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-18T10:53:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-01-18T10:53:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b621584a04332c39a493182f2dca6376\"},\"description\":\"Why handwriting is so important: a blog post by The Pen Company exploring the many reasons why writing by hand should be celebrated.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/handwriting\/why-handwriting-is-so-important\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/handwriting\/why-handwriting-is-so-important\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/handwriting\/why-handwriting-is-so-important\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Why handwriting is so important\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Pen Company Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b621584a04332c39a493182f2dca6376\",\"name\":\"Lucy Williams\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f251747ed7a120404b73c37c381c4c96?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f251747ed7a120404b73c37c381c4c96?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Lucy Williams\"},\"description\":\"Lucy is our lead editor and has been passionate about stationery since childhood. She has a particular fondness for rollerball and calligraphy pens and is a keen advocate of snail mail.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/author\/lucy\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why handwriting is so important - The Pen Company Blog","description":"Why handwriting is so important: a blog post by The Pen Company exploring the many reasons why writing by hand should be celebrated.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/handwriting\/why-handwriting-is-so-important\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why handwriting is so important - The Pen Company Blog","og_description":"Why handwriting is so important: a blog post by The Pen Company exploring the many reasons why writing by hand should be celebrated.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/handwriting\/why-handwriting-is-so-important\/","og_site_name":"The Pen Company Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ThePenCompany","article_published_time":"2018-01-18T10:53:02+00:00","og_image":[{"width":900,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/bigstock-197328631.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Lucy Williams","twitter_card":"summary","twitter_creator":"@thepencompany","twitter_site":"@thepencompany","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lucy Williams","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/handwriting\/why-handwriting-is-so-important\/","url":"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/handwriting\/why-handwriting-is-so-important\/","name":"Why handwriting is so important - The Pen Company Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-01-18T10:53:02+00:00","dateModified":"2018-01-18T10:53:02+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b621584a04332c39a493182f2dca6376"},"description":"Why handwriting is so important: a blog post by The Pen Company exploring the many reasons why writing by hand should be celebrated.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/handwriting\/why-handwriting-is-so-important\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/handwriting\/why-handwriting-is-so-important\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/handwriting\/why-handwriting-is-so-important\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Why handwriting is so important"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/","name":"The Pen Company Blog","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b621584a04332c39a493182f2dca6376","name":"Lucy Williams","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f251747ed7a120404b73c37c381c4c96?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f251747ed7a120404b73c37c381c4c96?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Lucy Williams"},"description":"Lucy is our lead editor and has been passionate about stationery since childhood. She has a particular fondness for rollerball and calligraphy pens and is a keen advocate of snail mail.","url":"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/author\/lucy\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3495"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3495"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3495\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3506,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3495\/revisions\/3506"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}