Example: Old people often complain about young people not having “basic knowledge” and say that younger generations know and understand less of the world than they do.

  • cardboardboxfort@lemmy.world
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    14 hours ago

    Fair argument. Just wanted to point out that cursive has actual academic benefits. For one thing writing and drawing use both halves of the brain and since cursive is a form of drawing it engages both sides better than writing alone would. The information has a better chance of being retained that way.

    Taking notes by hand also improves the odds of the information being retained with the added benefit of having a hardcopy to look back on if you forget. Like a grocery list. Taking notes is labor intensive so cursive was developed as a way to quickly write. Thats the whole point of it.

    Luckily some schools are bringing back paper and pencil and teaching cursive because of the unmitigated disaster digital-only schooling has proven itself to be.

    Edit Added some of the documented benefits of cursive handwriting since so many people are calling me out. Yes, cursive is good for you. Practice it, take time and improve the letters you write sloppily and you’ll learn to love it. I know, I was once like you and had to work to improve my cursive and now I love it.

    Cursive writing helps improve brain development, memory retention, and fine motor skills.

    Brain and Cognitive Growth

    Stronger neural connections: Writing in cursive engages both sides of the brain, unlike typing or standard print.

    Better memory: The continuous motion of linking letters helps students remember words and grasp new concepts.

    Aids learning challenges: The fluid style helps students who deal with dyslexia or dysgraphia by treating each word as a single connected unit.

    Motor Skills and Writing Ease

    Finer hand control: Shaping connected letters builds hand-eye coordination and finger dexterity.

    Less hand fatigue: Smooth, flowing lines reduce the stop-and-start stress common in regular print writing.

    Fewer letter reversals: Connected motion stops young children from confusing similar letters like “b” and “d”.

    Practical Uses

    Reading history: Knowing cursive allows people to read old family letters, journals, and major historical papers.

    Personal signatures: It gives individuals a reliable way to sign official forms, checks, and legal documents.

    • schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works
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      15 hours ago

      I don’t know that cursive has demonstrated benefits, but writing by hand does improve learning, as does reading on paper.

      Cursive has a weird cult following. As someone who likes the idea of cursive, it took quite a bit of effort to give up on it. It’s only theoretically faster, and it does so at the expense of legibility. I can’t read my own writing at speed, and I can´t read Charles Darwin’s either.

      I started taking up Gregg shorthand to solve this problem. Faster and more legible, even without abbreviations.

      • cardboardboxfort@lemmy.world
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        14 hours ago

        Cursive writing helps improve brain development, memory retention, and fine motor skills.

        Brain and Cognitive Growth

        Stronger neural connections: Writing in cursive engages both sides of the brain, unlike typing or standard print.

        Better memory: The continuous motion of linking letters helps students remember words and grasp new concepts.

        Aids learning challenges: The fluid style helps students who deal with dyslexia or dysgraphia by treating each word as a single connected unit.

        Motor Skills and Writing Ease

        Finer hand control: Shaping connected letters builds hand-eye coordination and finger dexterity.

        Less hand fatigue: Smooth, flowing lines reduce the stop-and-start stress common in regular print writing.

        Fewer letter reversals: Connected motion stops young children from confusing similar letters like “b” and “d”.

        Practical Uses

        Reading history: Knowing cursive allows people to read old family letters, journals, and major historical papers.

        Personal signatures: It gives individuals a reliable way to sign official forms, checks, and legal documents.

      • cardboardboxfort@lemmy.world
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        12 hours ago

        I’m not wasting time sourcing a half dozen research papers on cursive handwriting. Sorry. Read up on the topic yourself instead of knee-jerk hating something you never practiced enough to get good at. Like I said, I was a shitty cursive writer in highschool and years later when I began practicing my cursive I got better and began enjoying it. It is useful. It’s a great excuse to not use your phone (spybot) for everything like making a grocery list. These are just facts.

        • zout@fedia.io
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          11 hours ago

          That’s a lot of assumptions about me in a few sentences! I briefly searched for sources myself, but couldn’t find them. Since your comments here read like copy/pastes I guessed you had sources, but it seems it’s more like a religion to you; no sources because they’re just facts.

          • schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works
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            10 hours ago

            I looked and found a probably AI page that conflated every study that looked at “writing by hand” with “cursive.” Honestly, the most stupid shit. Cursive is just a form of handwriting with a cult following.

    • owenfromcanada@lemmy.ca
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      14 hours ago

      The left/right brain thing has never had any scientific backing. We use both hemispheres of our brain for art and logic.

      In addition, cursive is no more a form of drawing than block printing is. And it was historically used primarily to speed up writing and make quills last longer. It is often used in calligraphy, but that’s not typically what boomers are ranting about (very few of them know the first thing about calligraphy).

      Taking notes by hand does have documented benefits, but I’m not aware of any evidence that cursive is better than block printing (unless speed is a significant concern). And as a millenial who grew up reading and writing both, I can say with certainty that block printing is typically more legible and more consistent across penmanship.

      • HubertManne@piefed.social
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        13 hours ago

        Did you read your link? It actually does talk about the two sides specializing. Have you ever seen the people who had the connected sliced? You would never say that if you had seen the videos. There is most certainly differences in how the left and right brain function.

      • cardboardboxfort@lemmy.world
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        14 hours ago

        Its well studied and in fact has many benefits. You’re just mad your cursive looked like shit and the teacher called you up to her desk in frustration as she tried to decipher an s from a r on your work.

        Cursive writing helps improve brain development, memory retention, and fine motor skills.

        Brain and Cognitive Growth

        Stronger neural connections: Writing in cursive engages both sides of the brain, unlike typing or standard print.

        Better memory: The continuous motion of linking letters helps students remember words and grasp new concepts.

        Aids learning challenges: The fluid style helps students who deal with dyslexia or dysgraphia by treating each word as a single connected unit.

        Motor Skills and Writing Ease

        Finer hand control: Shaping connected letters builds hand-eye coordination and finger dexterity.

        Less hand fatigue: Smooth, flowing lines reduce the stop-and-start stress common in regular print writing.

        Fewer letter reversals: Connected motion stops young children from confusing similar letters like “b” and “d”.

        Practical Uses

        Reading history: Knowing cursive allows people to read old family letters, journals, and major historical papers.

        Personal signatures: It gives individuals a reliable way to sign official forms, checks, and legal documents.