But
what caused the decline in cursive handwriting? Is it the pervasive use
of computer keyboard (and now smartphone's texting)? Or is it something
else ... like the rise of the ballpoint pen:
Sassoon’s analysis of how we’re taught to hold pens makes a much stronger case for the role of the ballpoint in the decline of cursive. She explains that the type of pen grip taught in contemporary grade school is the same grip that’s been used for generations, long before everyone wrote with ballpoints. However, writing with ballpoints and other modern pens requires that they be placed at a greater, more upright angle to the paper—a position that’s generally uncomfortable with a traditional pen hold. Even before computer keyboards turned so many people into carpal-tunnel sufferers, the ballpoint pen was already straining hands and wrists.Read more over at this article by Josh Giesbrecht at The Atlantic.
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