{"id":2631,"date":"2013-01-12T06:41:14","date_gmt":"2013-01-12T11:41:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/?p=2631"},"modified":"2013-01-12T06:41:16","modified_gmt":"2013-01-12T11:41:16","slug":"are-future-generations-going-to-forget-to-write","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/archives\/2013\/01\/12\/are-future-generations-going-to-forget-to-write","title":{"rendered":"Are future generations going to forget to write?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Stack\"<\/a>As someone that spends a lot of time in front of a keyboard, many get a kick out of the fact that I always have a notebook with me (usually a moleskine<\/a>\"\" or field notes<\/a>\"\" of some sort) and a battered up montblanc pen.<\/p>\n

I did learn to write cursive back when I was in junior school, but it never lasted and my scrawl basically took over and this is what I write with till today. Yet I write a whole smattering of things from TODO lists to meeting notes. Yes, I am one of those people who go into a meeting room not to tap on a keyboard or touch a tablet’s virtual keyboard – I usually write long form notes recording all sorts of information, which I then review later. I’m no Richard Branson<\/a>, but you can be assured I always have a notebook & pen handy. (additional reading: Pocket Notebook of 20 Famous Men<\/a>, What’s in Richard Branson’s notebook?<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Today’s FT Weekend had a column by Gillian Tett: Handwriting: a joined-up case<\/strong><\/a> (read it!). The takeaway quote from that: “It is keyboards that really matter now in the global economy, not penmanship”.<\/em><\/strong> It seems teachers are suggesting that its better to learn keyboard-skills over writing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There’s much wrong with this. For one, default keyboards are QWERTY<\/a> which exist to slow you down (compared to DVORAK layouts) during the times of typewriters. Yes, that’s how old keyboards are – they’ve not changed since the days of the typewriter.<\/p>\n

Writing is a life skill. You don’t always have a keyboard\/touch keyboard all the time.<\/p>\n

I however do feel that we’re in yet another midst of a digital native vs digital immigrant. I myself might be a digital immigrant compared to kids of today. Generations are made every 10 years (at minimum in this fast paced tech world), in my opinion (though Wikipedia suggests its a minimum of 20 years<\/a>). Will we see the future forget to write? How much will be lost to digital rot (remember 5 1\/4 disks? 3 1\/2 floppies? Older hard disks, etc.)?<\/p>\n

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