The importance of handwriting is becoming better understood
Research on pens and paper highlights their benefits
Two and a half millennia ago, Socrates complained that writing would harm students. With a way to store ideas permanently and externally, they would no longer need to memorise. It is tempting to dismiss him as an old man complaining about change. Socrates did not have a stack of peer-reviewed science to make his case about the usefulness of learning concepts by heart.
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This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Hand-wringing over handwriting”
Culture September 16th 2023
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