Why does typing make us dumber?
With the spread of digital technology, we use computers and phones for typing more often than pen and paper. And so, handwriting may soon be completely replaced by typing. What consequences would this have?
Science has only begun to investigate this. One thing is certain. Without handwriting, I personally feel as if we are getting dumber. I distance myself from that. I aim to maintain the balance between digital and “manual” writing interactions. But, when I look back, writing and drawing were never really distant from me.
My passion for writing and drawing started in my childhood.
As a child, I remember already being praised for my dexterity in elementary school. I did well in various drawing competitions. At the same time, I also remember how much I loved using my mother’s mechanical typewriter. With the help of my mum, as a 9-year-old kid, she and I wrote a play for the Christmas celebration in primary school. On that very typewriter. Writing and drawing took big part of my life as a kid.
Design work – my first ever
I made my first design for a competition in my primary school. The task was to draw the starting page of an information pamphlet for the school. The topic was: suicide. (picture above)
The next thing that jumps to mind, was during my years in high school. I have spent many sleepless nights drawing. I was in my room, listening to the cassette recorder and drawing until dawn. I loved working like this. I didn’t have a huge desk where I could create my work in my tiny room. I did most of my drawings on the ground.
Writing by hand makes us smarter
Not so much with photography, but most of my work begins with drawing. A company logo or website creation usually starts with hand sketches on paper. I’ve always felt that my brain can process the hand-drawn version better than the digital one. The computer version of my work starts after I have put down my ideas on paper.
When we write something down by hand, something changes.
In this study by the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, researchers looked at how writing something down affects our brains—and what they found was interesting!
They found that greater activity related to handwriting learning was observed in several brain regions known to be involved in the execution, imagery, and observation of actions.
This means that when we write something down, compared to typing, we interact with our brains in an entirely new way.
During handwriting, the formation of the letter itself, or the series of new movements used during drawing activates the areas of our brain that are closely connected with thinking, using language and working memory.
An example of my logo designing process
Back to the basics
No matter what I’ve done in any area of life, I’ve always been leaning towards basics. For me, this means staying as close to nature as possible in any sense of the word. I don’t mean jumping up and down naked on the streets. What exactly do I mean?
Let me describe it with an analogy: there are no keyboards or mobile phones in nature. There is, however, a stick with which you can draw in the sand. This applies to writing and typing.
Using another analogy about my nutrition: No pre-packaged soup in nature exists. But with vegetables and water found in nature, you can use them to make soup.
As always, I stick to the basics when it comes to the question of how much I should use handwriting. I stick with simplicity, I work to maintain balance in my daily life and to handle things in the right place.
I work every day to further improve my dexterity. I aim to keep “pen and paper” in my life as much as possible.
Thank you for reading my post.
I am Shopi.
I help businesses build solid online foundations.
