Generation Z is losing a skill we’ve had for 5,500 years: 40% are losing communication skills

News JVTech Generation Z is losing a skill we’ve had for 5,500 years: 40% are losing communication skills

Generation Z no longer knows how to write handwritten?

For millennia, writing has been one of the fundamental pillars of human communication. It has made it possible to transmit knowledge, stories and cultures through the ages.

However, a new trend is gradually emerging, especially among Generation Z. These young people, born between the late 1990s and early 2010s, appear to be losing a crucial skill that has been with us for around 5,500 years. According to recent studies byUniversity of Stavangerapproximately 40% of this generation loses the ability to communicate through handwriting. This phenomenon raises important questions about the evolution of our ability to communicate effectively.

Digital technology has gradually transformed the way we communicate, making handwriting an increasingly less common practice.. From instant messaging platforms to social networks, young people favor quick exchanges and abbreviations. The keyboard and touchscreen have replaced pen and paper in many aspects of daily life. This shift is so profound that some experts believe Generation Z may be the first to fail to master handwriting at a functional level.

Yet, handwriting plays a key role in cognitive development. It is linked to skills such as memory and comprehension because it engages the brain in a different way than typing on a keyboard. This skill, which has shaped human civilization, is today threatened by the omnipresence of digital technology.

Implications for global communication

According to various studies and testimonies from professors from several universities, reported by the Turkish newspaper Türkiye Today, young people from generation Z have integrated the use of keyboards into their daily lives so much that they find themselves “disconcerted” when they have to return to handwriting. Like any skill that erodes over time due to lack of practice, students now show a noticeable deterioration in their handwriting, which often appears messy and difficult to read.

Professor Nedret Kiliceri explains that even university students lack knowledge of the basic rules of writing. According to his findings, students avoid long sentences and no longer write coherent paragraphs. They prefer isolated sentences rather than paragraphs which group together sentences linked by meaning. Students even come to college without pens and use keyboards for everything. The professor sees this as an influence from social media.

Additionally, the loss of handwriting doesn’t just affect the ability to write a letter or postcard. It has profound impacts on the way Generation Z perceives and interprets the world. Handwriting is often associated with a more thoughtful and personal form of communication, in contrast to the often impulsive nature of digital texts.

Ultimately, the question remains: how will Generation Z, and future generations, find a balance between the digital world and the ancestral skills that have shaped our society? The answers to this question will largely determine how we communicate and understand the world in the future.