Writing or typing?

Posted byMoushmi RadhanparaPosted inIt's how life is!, Ramblings of my mind.Tags:, , , , , , , , , , , ,

I had to complete an assignment and was as usual out of time. My days had been too occupied or rather I’d made the too occupied and had ended up with a ton of burden and deadline literally knocking on my head. The icing on the cake was the assignment’s first rule was that it had to be ‘hand-written’. And I was like ‘what?’ well, as a matter of fact I like writing in a diary and taking down notes when I am pretty sure I am going to forget it, so I was comfortable with the fact that I’d be writing almost 60 pages at my own pace. But then I had already lost my pace and I had a deadline to meet before some action was taken.

So, there I was with a cup of coffee and cleanly stacked A4 size sheets with the most comfortable gripping pen; ready to keep myself awake the whole night when outside my brother with due intention was having a party with all my cousins.

Anyhow, as I held the pen and started in scripting with my striking handwriting which had already deteriorated by the 5th page, it struck me that it was 60 pages! I knew that all along but hadn’t bothered to ponder over it much until I started penning it down.

Well, we all have adapted to this method called ‘typing’ which has made us lazy enough to write. I mean I was good at writing, and I didn’t even realize until then that I had lost not only my practice but also the speed. I was literally proud of being the fast writer who would never miss out on dictations or would never have to worry about not finishing a paper on time. Where was that me? I kept wondering until I realised that I was running out of time and rationalising that was not printing down any sheets on my table.

So I kept scribbling and scribbling until I finished my consignment, it sure took me more time than I had anticipated, and well I should say almost the double time. Even my handwriting had changed, which even didn’t look mine.

So what if we keep typing, well, it’s super easy you know. Probably most of ours typing speed would be much more than what we could write with a pen. But aren’t we just drifting away from the initial means. I mean I love the smell of paper and ink and it’s just wonderful to write, still all I do is type so that I don’t have to re-type what my hands already wrote. Sure, its way easy but it makes me think that if we continue this way and even our modern schools and colleges keep adapting to computers, one day we might consider writing letters on paper just like drawing for fun. Only those who will be good at it will be writing down, others would be just typing or even just speaking to their mobiles. (Even typing is being replaced now; I had completely forgotten that, some of us just like to order our cell phones!)

Published by Moushmi Radhanpara

A bilingual writer, Moushmi Radhanpara has authored three poetry collections so far, namely POSIES and 03:21 AM –An Ode to Rust & Restlessness, and Resignation of an Angel. She is also scribbling an unplanned rough draft of a story as a part of NANOWRIMO 2020 and hopes that something might come out of it. She has also co-authored two books, The Lockdown Stories and Mirage so far. Her poetries can be found on her blog https://aestheticmiradh.com/ and a few other online portals. She believes in the fact that a better reader makes a better writer. Reading a 100 books a year is her latest obsession. She can be found either drunk on coffee or hiding away from everything and admiring the gorgeous sun.

73 thoughts on “Writing or typing?”

    1. Well portrayed here, Rupali. Even i still remember the night since i had lost all of my TYPED scripts, notes, written-yet-unwritten novel, all documents, saved drafts, copies, & everything that belonged to my debut novel… with that crashed window. And since that day, i started writing or jotting down stuffs on pages, but not exactly cos, being an notorious writer, i believe, sometimes, some things you really can’t write down in pages, but can well type on screen… & hide behind ’em zones. lol xoxo. Nevermind, i liked ur review on her post. Well said!

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      4. oh yeah, i see that. ive already been on most of ur writers. saw, u really give a damn ’bout “photography” which, i find, so captivating. even me either enjoy photography as it so helps me get engaged with writing. so as an online stranger-friend of urs, id like to suggest u try giving a worth of penny to writing as well. im sure, u gonna come up with very productive posts. i see, u r a traveler. right?? so guess, u got a plus point here. u may easily turn the beauty of ur “capturings” into written-yet-unwritten words. so have ur say, Rupali. write away. lukin fwd for it! xoxo

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  4. Must consider this post a one of my favorites for sure! Me also keep thinking ov’r the same analogies of life since a year, but still i find me a bit fuzzed on this, may be, it’s cos… “Gorgeous Typing” has already overcome “Hot Writing” with something we call fascination. And indeed how true it’s sayin’ that… today, half of us writers love typing rather writing just ’cause it reducing out time-cost management, perhaps, i do completely agree with you here, Moushmi. Yes, writing has got its own way to be written unto pages instead of getting typed or texted down on screen. Kinda very captivating blog u’ve come up with, of course, as always

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    1. Thank you so much dear.
      I appreciate every single word written here, and yes may be we have adopted to typing but for me writing would never be an old means. I tend to go back to it now and then, and will try not to get totally away from it.

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  6. Yes, I like to write as much as possible in order to show a person you care to hand write a thank you or something but I’m an “old lady” and they used to teach “penmanship” and I never once got a “satisfactory” grade and have had numerous people joke “are you a doctor”? Cuz of how bad it is! So, still love my keyboards 🙂 – very much an eye opener of a post😄

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  7. Great post. Recently I found out that my writing speed (and handwriting) has turned significantly worse than before! But writing down on paper has its own charm. When I’m writing a long narrative post, I usually ditch my laptop and write my thoughts down on paper.

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  8. You’re so right! We’re forgetting the basics of writing. While my writing has never been more than a doctor’s prescription, I do love to write, especially with ink pens and have a stack of them. Often I pen down my thought literally onto a paper when I can’t get to a screen. Oh and I’ve never taken to ordering my phone. It never worked for me 😊

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  9. I do love to write even now, but not 60 pages at a go.. but as you said if the trend is continued in schools and all, writing would be some fun activity in the very near future…
    between I wonder how do you manage to write 60 pages in a night…how tired would have been

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    1. Oh yes, talking about tired? I was dead tired by the noon. I completed it by then and honestly I had no intentions of going to my day’s work by then. I was simply exhausted. But some things couldn’t be avoided at any cost so there I was looking like a maniac, with sleepy eyes and a giant cup of coffee to do the needed. But then the next two nights I slept like a dead person 😀

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  11. A very interesting post that raises some pertinent questions! It is frightening how little is actually written by hand these days and I admit to being one of those. Before I used to write everything by hand and started writing the first draft of my book in notebooks…soon however, I was typing away. I also see my son completing so much of his school work on the computer…I sincerely hope writing by hand will not become a rare event!

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    1. Thank you so much for sharing your experiences. We are truly drifting away from hand-writing things.
      And if this goes on at the same pace then writing will become a rare art as you say.
      But that’s how we are changing, and I don’t think there is any going back to it.

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  13. Pingback: My Picks Of The Week 2017 – #11 | A Momma's View

  15. Writing is one I always enjoy..but 60 pages, even I cannot do. Today, I wonder how I managed to keep up my impeccable handwriting in my records during college days as a mere 10 years back, computers were not the norm. As you say, a time will come when typing will get outdated and it will be voice recognition or something else.

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  16. It was only during the exams I realised how awful my already bad handwriting had become…….
    This change is saddening…….
    I remember being excited about writing with pen as a kid…….

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  18. I wrestled with this myself some months ago. I realised that I hadn’t really written anything beyond a shopping list for years. Then I decided to buy a fountain pen, rather than a ballpoint, and vowed to write properly and use it daily. The process is slower, of course, but I have pages I can open to read, I have rekindled my love of writing for writing’s sake, and because it’s slower, it has a calming effect on my mind and then the day. It really has become a cool way to sloowwww doooowwn.

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  22. I’m curious, what kind of assignment was it to have required 60-pages to be hand-written (that’s insane)?! 60 A4 pages are not easy to write nor read! Was there a particular reason your teacher wanted it hand-written? Didn’t a lot of students object? I love to write instead of type, it feels like I’m really learning something and my mind can explore/connect the dots better. Did you find that writing your assignment (as dreadful as it was) was more beneficial in some way than if you were to type them?

    I’ve written an article on the 5 ways typing is actually making us dumber. Please check out my blog as well!
    -MPR

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    1. Hi, thank you for the lovely comment.
      Actually every one did object but she said that is the rule.
      And it was a compilation of two projects answering 2 questions, for 100 marks so it turned out to be 60 pages.
      And as for me I didn’t mind, as far as I had time, but the lazy kept pushing it off, so.. there were the consequences. 😀

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      1. It’s definitely one of those moments you thank the invention of computers 🙂 Hahaha. I think for such a big project it’s a lot harder to start writing than typing. It’s not as easy to erase mistakes, you have to make sure it’s legible and it’s harder to know how much you’ve written exactly. Did you type it first and than hand write or just write and go with the flow?

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      2. I kept making notes for the week, but did not make any fair draft, but to make it easier, I marked from where I will be taking my intro, conclusion. And then kept a rough track of number of words. So when I sat to write down, it was easier but just time consuming, but then I am fast in writin too, so it was just tiring to do it in a night!

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