Why handwrite?

In my previous post I talked about handwriting letters and places/people where you can send them. Perhaps you thought, "Perch Librarian, we have email, text, and social media, so why bother with pen and paper, things that are going the way of the dinosaurs?" 

Believe it or not, handwriting does have advantages over typing. Allow me to elucidate:

• Personal  A handwritten letter is more personal than something typed in a printout or on a screen. My most cherished gifts from my husband are his birthday/anniversary/Valentine's Day cards to me in which he handwrites a note.
• Relaxing  No electronic device is involved. No distractions or interruptions. It's just you, the paper, the pen, and your thoughts.
• Self-Reflection  It's so easy to bang out something on a keyboard, and often on social media we see people giving knee-jerk reactions (I'm sure you know what I mean). Since handwriting takes longer, we need to think before we write.
• Exercising Your Brain  Of course, brainwork is involved in typing, but scientists have proven that your brain works differently and makes more connections when you form each alphabetical character by hand versus tapping a key, which requires the same movement regardless of the letter. Additionally, handwriting aids in learning, spelling correctly, and memory recall.
• Mental Health  Handwriting has a more positive effect on a person's mental health. It improves your mood when you take the time to handwrite to someone, thinking about that person while also getting thoughts out of your mind and down on paper.
• Tangible  A handwritten letter is a small part of someone's personality, something that person touched and created that will last through the ages. Imagine not having all those letters written by ordinary people during the Civil War or other historical periods; imagine not having cards handwritten by your grandparents or your parents.

When I look at my mother's handwriting in the birthday cards she's given me over the years, I can see changes in her reflected in the pen strokes--the smooth, smaller, and steady lines when she was younger, the larger characters that have lost their steadiness with arthritis as she ages. Even when I look at things I've handwritten myself twenty (!) years ago, I can decipher a person who's not quite the same as the person I am today. These are things that typing can't replicate. What will people in the future make of all the digital notes we type today?

Wishing you cherished moments of reading and letter writing from the perch.