For thousands of years, writing has been one of the fundamental pillars of human communication, transmitting knowledge, stories and cultures down the ages. However, a new trend is gradually emerging, particularly among Generation Z. These young people, born between the late 1990s and early 2010s, seem to be losing a crucial skill that has been with us for around 5,500 years. According to recent studies by the University of Stavanger, around 40% of this generation are losing their ability to communicate by handwriting. This phenomenon raises important questions about the evolution of our ability to communicate effectively.
Generation Z no longer knows how to write by hand?
Digital technology has gradually transformed the way we communicate, making handwriting less and less common. From instant messaging platforms to social networks, young people prefer quick exchanges and abbreviations. The keyboard and touch screen have replaced pen and paper in many aspects of daily life. This change is so profound that some experts believe that Generation Z could be the first generation not to master handwriting at a functional level.
Yet handwriting plays a key role in cognitive development. It is linked to skills such as memory and comprehension, because it engages the brain in a different way to typing on a keyboard. This skill, which has shaped human civilization, is now under threat from the ubiquity of digital technology.
The implications for global communication
According to various studies and the testimonies of professors from several universities, reported by the Turkish newspaper Türkiye Today, young people from generation Z have so integrated the use of keyboards into their daily lives that they find themselves “bewildered” when they have to revert to handwriting. As with any skill that erodes over time through lack of practice, students are now showing a marked deterioration in their handwriting, which often appears disorganised and difficult to read.
Professor Nedret Kiliceri explains that even university students lack knowledge of the basic rules of handwriting. According to her, students avoid long sentences and no longer write coherent paragraphs. They prefer isolated sentences rather than paragraphs that group together sentences linked by meaning. Students even come to university without pens and use keyboards for everything. The professor sees this as an influence of social media.
What’s more, the loss of handwriting doesn’t just affect the ability to write a letter or a postcard. It has a profound impact on the way Generation Z perceives and interprets the world. Handwriting is often associated with a more thoughtful and personal form of communication, in contrast to the often impulsive nature of digital texts.
Ultimately, the question remains: how will Generation Z, and future generations, balance the digital world with the age-old skills that have shaped our society? The answers to this question will largely determine how we communicate and understand the world in the future.
5500 year old skill, but until the 19th century the average person wasn’t even literate. peak journalism. maybe read a history book every once in a while because your education system genuinely failed y’all </3
That’s just what I was thinking lol the fact that 60% of them can communicate by handwriting is a WAY higher % than it was 100 years ago, and on top of that the literacy rate is higher now than it ever has been. This is some old person yelling at the clouds about “kids today”.
Not only is this blatantly untrue, it’s a total ignorance of the innovation that is keyboards. Typewriters have existed for hundreds of years would you call that ineffective communication? You didn’t even write this down on paper, you typed it and published it
How many people own a typewriter? You can’t compare them to the number of keyboards on phones and laptops.
From someone that uses Y’ALL….
This is ridiculous nonsense from people incapable of imagining a future different than what they already know and value. The younger generations are fine and are well equipped for the future.
Totally agree with you. I meet so many great young people these days, very smart, very capable and very empathetic. This article is quite demeaning to those people.
They can’t type that well, either: Lots of made-up words; decoherence in their semantics; missing prepositions and other words in staccato sentences which still somehow lack punctuation; not knowing the difference between this or that, therefore misusing words and acronyms; etc.
As a young person myself, we only do this to friends, family, or in an informal setting. However, in a professional setting, of course we won’t use these ‘staccato sentences that lack punctuation’.
Many Gen Zs use their own made up abbreviations which make no sense and certainly spelling, grammar and punctuation is rarely correct. Whether it’s hand written or not, it is essential, if they want a rewarding career, that they can write sensible sentences and paragraphs.
Ok. I won’t get into the handwriting v keyboard debate because it leads nowhere.
For me the main problem is the fact a lot of young people cannot write a proper sentence with correct grammar and spelling. Also their vocabulary is very limited.
This has nothing to do with what you use to write but how you are taught to write as a form of communication. Sadly, this shows the shortcomings of the education system.
As a Gen Zer in my EARLY 20s, who was not only taught how to write by hand, ON PAPER, is an avid writer and helped teach my younger brothers (a 2012 born Gen Zer, and a 2014 born Gen Alpha how to write, I take GREAT OFFENCE!
Handwriting is an incredibly outdated art that despite never being used by most people after graduating from school (besides signing their own name) that is still being taught to kids from an incredibly young age, meaning not only is this statement blatantly untrue, but it is also slander on my generation. Also typing is form of writing that have been around for decades, maybe centuries, as well as the printing press, an invention DESIGNED to write FASTER, to allow information to spread farther and faster, meaning that people have known SINCE THE FUCKING RENAISSANCE that handwriting is a slow and pointless way of writing and would inevitably become obsolete as more effective methods came into existence.
Methods that came about with the Age of Information, the internet and modern technology, all of which allowed you to write AND PUBLISH this atrocious article, so maybe next time, put some actual facts and effort into it before hitting the post button.
To long didn’t read, we moving from formal writing back to wingdings and simple Pictography such as Egyptian hieroglyphics
Ah yes, the classic “kids these days” panic. Because clearly if you can’t write a perfect cursive ‘Q’, you must also be incapable of holding a conversation.
Gen Z communicates across more platforms and formats than any previous generation, we’re just using new tools. Text, video, voice notes, memes, these are all valid forms of communication. If anything, communication skills are expanding, just not in the traditional forms some still cling to.
(Also, a bit hypocritical that you typed this one, isn’t it?)
This is absolute nonsense! I even know Gen Z humans with dyslexia who can still write. And you’re classing handwriting as effective communication? We rarely have to write with pen and paper anymore. More often than not people choose to out of personal preference as writing with pen and paper hit differently.
It’s not just Gen Z, I’m 48 and my handwriting is terrible now!
Im sorry but this is a horrible take – the way forward to communicate is digitally, and just because communication has changed, doesn’t mean its worse.
Now by you typing this online, you are completely disproving your own point. How about you write thousands of copies without technology, and deliver to people’s houses!
I see “handwriting” used interchangeably with “cursive” a lot. I could believe 40% of Gen z don’t know how to do that, but I don’t believe they can’t write whatsoever. If they don’t know what the letter A looks like then how can they recognize which button to click to type the letter A?
Wow. This is very good counter attack !
The word “OK” is an abbreviation and a mispelling trend of “All Correct” from 1839. We’ve been doing this for centuries before you posted this article.
Most people commenting here are missing the point made by the author. I don’t think the author is saying writing should only be by hand- off course even this article was typed. The point is, many people are so used to digital writing, that they losing the ability to communicate effectively by hand.
The point being made here is digital writing should be balanced with handwriting as well, to make one balanced and a better communicator.
No one is saying you should only communicate by handwriting alone. Clearly most people commenting here lack understanding of the key issues raised in this article. Next time before commenting, ensure you understand what the author is saying before rushing to comment without understanding.