According to a study from the University of Stavanger, around 40% of Gen Zers are losing their grip on handwritten communication, a skill that’s been key to human interaction for about 5500 years. This aforementioned data is alarming. We spoke to Dr Arvind Otta, Senior Psychologist and Mental Health Activist to understand the reason behind this.
Importance Of Handwriting
Dr Arvind highlighted that writing is not just a traditional tool and it has a lot of mental health implications. The decline of handwriting is a worrying trend. Focus, memory retention and emotional processing are all aided by handwriting. By overly relying on digital communication, Genz will miss out on these cognitive benefits of writing by hand. Here are the impacts of losing this practise:
Mental Impact
Arvind mentioned that losing the practice of handwriting or shifting from it can impact one’s ability to focus and retain information. Also, If you are in an academic and professional setting, it can become really difficult for people who are not practising handwriting or are too accustomed to digital communication.
Academic Impact
He emphasised that places like these value clarity and quick comprehension. This faced difficulty may lead to anxiety and frustration. Generation Z may lose the chance to reflect on themselves as handwriting becomes less common.
Reduced Attention Span
Dr Arvind said we all have observed a trend of reduced impatience and attention spans going on, the loss of handwriting skills is just likely to contribute more to this.
Reducing Emotional Intelligence
Additionally, digital messages sometimes fail to convey the thoughtfulness and effort put into writing them as the handwritten letters, cards and notes do. Losing handwriting can hinder your emotional intelligence and empathy. Arvind mentioned that Genz may therefore miss out on making deep meaningful connections in life.
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How To Improve?
Dr Arvind recommends that advocates and professionals should incorporate activities like calligraphy, journaling, or creative writing into curriculum and therapy sessions. Activities like journaling and creative writing have a therapeutic effect and are often used to deal with stress and overwhelm.
He mentioned that handwriting is more than a tool for communication. Generation Z needs to save the art from disappearing. In this digital world, one may value quick communication and save time but at the same time, one should also realize the importance of slowing down.
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