Is Handwriting Worth Preserving?

Photo taken from Julia Turner's Slate article, "The End of Pens: Is handwriting worth saving?"

     Society’s digital age seems to usher in faster and better ways of communication, as well as the end of “the handwriting” era.  In her intriguing article, Julia Turner, Slate’s Deputy Editor and regular on Slate’s Culture Gabfest Podcast, addresses this new phenomenon.  She frames her points in the context of a book review of The Missing Ink (Philip Hensher), which traces handwriting across the centuries.  Turner explains how handwriting has evolved as cultures attempt to make writing speedier and more legible.  However, handwriting today is often replaced with typing on technological devices, which raises the question: is handwriting even something worth preserving?  Turner’s assertions become all the more credible because she wrote some of her article by hand (scanned, of course, into the typed computer article).  This imagery reinforces some of her main points by allowing her to show and not just tell, and really puts into context how messy handwriting looks compared to typed words.  Turner’s decision to arrange the points in the article in a cause and effect fashion aids the audience’s understanding, and also makes it harder for her points to be disputed because they are so logical and occur in such a natural way.  The audience seems to be a teenage and older American public interested in aspects of culture and their evolution.  Overall, the article’s arrangement and imagery both contribute to the success of Turner’s purpose, which was to convince her audience that Hensher’s book is both applicable and interesting.