OMG WTF: Kan enybodee rite propa? PLS LMK ASAP

It's pretty common for a person not to have any real need to write very much these days I think; I don't mean compose sentences, phrases, paragraphs and the like, many people do that either in the course of their job or on social media to some degree, greater or lesser. I actually mean write, as in, handwrite, with pen and paper. I wonder if it's becoming somewhat of a lost art in these digital times in which we live.

Most of what I write is on my computer at work and on steemit these days, also on a computer, although I certainly still utilise pen and paper in both my job and when researching and composing on steemit at times. What? Seriously, a PEN? Yep...A pen! I find it is easier to plan out my composition or workflow on paper, putting down the ideas, structure and/or framework in that way prior to constructing it on the keyboard. It just seems easier for me to do it that way mostly. I certainly would not call my handwriting neat, in fact it's far from it being closer to hieroglyphics than neat writing. I have always had reasonably bad handwriting really. I recall my parents authorising the headmaster at my primary school to administer the cane to me if my writing was not of a certain standard. That rather draconian method of motivation didn't work though, unsurprisingly, despite me receiving more than one motivational caning.

In the digital age, and moving forward into voice-recognition technology that is becoming more prevalent, I believe the handwritten word will decline further to, at some point, disappear altogether. I think that's a shame. After spending the last four weeks travelling through England visiting many historical sites and museums I have come across many examples of the written word in books, tablets, and of course hieroglyphs, as in the image, which give historians today a clear indication of the past, of what life was like and of events that have shaped our present. Sure, records are kept now, digitally these days, and are probably far more complete and extensive but...What if the power went out at some stage or there's a glitch in the system at some point, you know, Terminator - Rise of the Machines style...With no handwritten records would it all be lost? Ever tried turning on a computer or Kindle/tablet with no available power source? Doesn't work right?

The written word is being dug up in archaeological digs all over the world providing us a window to the past; The records from thousands of years ago can be deciphered, studied and understood...I wonder if we buried a computer with the history of the world contained on the hard drive today and then had it dug up in 3000 years would the future-archaeologist be able to extract the information? Hmm, I'm not so sure.

We live in a world where words like LOL, ROFL, OMG and DILIGAF actually mean something to people and in which the ability to craft words on paper, with ink, is a declining art-form. Six year olds aren't welcome at school unless they carry a tablet and more importance is put on how to ALT CTRL DEL than applying the correct punctuation and spelling to what we write. I think it's a shame the ability to write well has been superseded by the need (or want) to write quickly and that the quality of what a person writes suffers negatively because of it.

(Image taken at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, England.)