The Lost Art of Handwriting–and Why It Still Matters

Writing by hand trains focus—we pause before putting words on paper, and sometimes that pause is where real insights begin.

Handwriting engages the brain in a different way. Neuroscientists have found that writing by hand activates regions tied to memory, focus, and creativity. Triff/Shutterstock

I was recently cleaning out an old family desk when I came across a stack of letters bound with a faded blue ribbon. The paper had gone brittle with age, and the cursive writing looked like something from another world.

Every loop and flourish had a kind of rhythm, almost like the writer had danced across the page instead of having written on it. I couldn’t help but imagine the life behind each carefully penned word, a voice reaching across decades to meet me.