Writing Is What’s Right
A disadvantage of the keyboard is that we are forgetting how to write by hand. Typing on a computer or phone is certainly more convenient than getting out a paper and pen. It’s quicker too, because fingers are able to tap faster than our hands can grasp a stylus and make their way horizontally across paper, forming complicated letters. But the unseen disadvantage to typing is that the time we save ends up costing us some vital brain stimulation as well as some essential forethought and planning.
Each time we move our limbs, as when writing, the brain is stimulated. The nervous system sends electrical impulses from the brain to the muscles in our limbs, which then contract and relax to produce movement, thereby stimulating important areas of the brain. The fewer movements we perform (as in tapping on a keyboard), the less stimulation and coordination occurs in the brain. Writing is a complex process. If you think about how the brain works to synchronize the fingers, the palm, the wrist, the arm, and the eyes to create a letter, a word, and a sentence, it is a marvel. The pace at which writing occurs also allows us time to consider the best way to phrase the idea or thought and to anticipate what thoughts will follow, resulting in a cogent statement, essay, or story.
In contrast, fingers can type instantaneously. As the idea occurs in the mind, the fingers are already imprinting it on the screen with much less brain activity taking place, which is one reason why there is much less discretion, forethought, and planning when we type out whatever thought pops into our mind. In addition, people who rely on the keyboard to express themselves are prone to taking shortcuts: LOL, OMG, and TYVM are all abbreviations for common phrases yet without expressing the emotion. For a feeling or a sentiment to register, the brain requires self-awareness, some mediation of its cognitive and emotional zones, which one can then verbalize, write down, or choose to remain silent. But when you turn to the keypad, the ideas expressed are often unmediated, unfiltered, and unretractable. And this is often unfortunate because when little planning occurs, very little discretion is utilized. In turn, when abbreviations are used in place of an actual expression, neither the one typing nor the one reading feels the actual sentiment. For example, if you forward a cartoon to a friend and he immediately replies, LOL (i.e., laugh out loud), the very likelihood is that no actual laughter took place. Most likely no emotion was evoked and little thought was involved. The entire exchange was reflexive, which reduces the interpersonal experience into Pavlovian stimulus-responses, which is the manner in which primitive organisms function. Human beings, ideally, process a stimulus before deciding how, when, and if to respond.
All of this means that as we use digital technology more and more, our brains will be used less and less, with “digital” meaning involving the use of one’s fingers to communicate. Getting out a pen and paper and using handwriting should be a vital part of our education and our children’s development. We should not allow it to go by the wayside, but use it once again as a mode of communication between adults when they wish to relate to each other and express themselves in a genuine way. The keypad is fine when only data is being exchanged. But for true self-expression, I encourage everyone to make America write again. n
Rabbi Dr. Dovid Fox is a forensic and clinical psychologist, and director of Chai Lifeline Crisis Services. To contact Chai Lifeline’s 24-hour crisis helpline, call 855-3-CRISIS or email crisis@chailifeline.org. Learn more at www.chailifeline.org/crisis.
