Why We Write

 No one will argue the fact that communications technology is moving forward at an astounding rate. A flip phone from just a few years ago suddenly looks comical, like an antiquity from another time or place, a museum piece. Apple determined that my MacBook Air from 2010 is “vintage” and as such, no longer supported.

 So, it comes as no surprise that standard writing instruments like pens and pencils seem to be practically obsolete in the experience of many who have grown up in the digital revolution, rarely spending time with pen and paper in hand. Screen time has sky rocketed out of sight in just a few years while personal letters, thank you notes and the like are increasingly rare.

 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that children ages eight to 10 spend an average of six hours per day in front of a screen, kids ages 11 to 14 spend an average of nine hours per day in front of a screen, and youth ages 15 to 18 spend an average of seven-and-a-half hours per day in front of a screen.

A tablet in today’s parlance is a small, hand-held computer that uses a touch screen as its keyboard. The tablet of just a few years ago, however, was a pad of lined composition paper we used to write longhand essays in pen and ink. Some tablets of the new digital variety come with a stylus that acts like a pen, but has no ink. It makes a mark only when it meets the surface of the electronic tablet. Writers and illustrators are using these tablets and styli in place of a whole studio of art supplies, from chalk and charcoal, to oil paint and air brush, to pen and paper.

 A dwindling percentage of people today would even recognize a fountain pen that draws ink from a bottle, the kind of everyday writing instrument my dad carried in his shirt pocket his whole life, from about age 12. A young adult in the 21st Century, must look upon that fountain pen in the same way he or she sees the rotary dial desk phone from the middle of the past century. What’s that? How does it work?

It’s a long story

 The history of communication can be traced back to the origin of speech, more than half a billion years ago.  But figuring out how to record our human conversation took a very long time. The first use of symbols to record ideas started a little more than 30,000 years ago. Cave paintings, petroglyphs, pictograms and ideograms, not really based on language as we know it today, appeared more like graphic depictions of life.

 Writing was first invented by prehistoric people of the middle east more than 5,000 years ago. The people of Sumer used a reed stylus in soft clay. This has become known as cuneiform. By 2800 BC, people started representing the syllables of spoken Sumerian language in cuneiform’s soft clay.

 At about the same time, Chinese script may have originated independently. In the Americas, the Mayan culture is thought to have had its own written language in clay as early as 300 BC.

Historians believe the Chinese first invented paper. As far back as 3000 BC, Egyptians wrote on papyrus scrolls with reed pens and thin brushes. The Romans may have been first to create metal nibs attached to the end of a stylus so a writer would not need to continually trim the end of a reed or quill.

For the birds?

 Quills were the most sophisticated writing instruments available for about 15 centuries. Large birds made their contribution to the sharing of knowledge until metal pens replaced feathers in writing. The quills, reeds and brushes of earliest written communication required frequent dipping into various inks concocted from plants, charred bones and minerals. It was all very messy, until the invention of the fountain pen.

 Fountain pens made writing cleaner and more transportation friendly. Over centuries of improvement, fountain pens, ballpoints and rollerball pens matched the evolution of paper products for reliability, lasting quality and ease of use. From the 18th century forward, western culture, postage and delivery services combined to make letter writing and sharing knowledge across the world a real possibility – even before the invention of telegraph and radio transmission of ideas.

 So, in human evolutionary terms, we have only recently learned how to communicate ideas across distance, yet most of the tools we developed for that purpose have become extinct or face extinction very soon. Digital devices are evolving literally at light speed. Cursive or script longhand writing is no longer taught in many schools. Suddenly in 21st century life, few adults including students carry a writing instrument and paper unless required in their occupation or classroom.

 But how long can the novelty and speed of our electronic devices and social media hold our attention before we grow tired of their spell? Perhaps the time has already come. Even as laptops, tablets and phones become widely available, 75 percent of business people say they prefer taking notes in meetings with pen and paper. Almost without exception, they found written notes on paper easier to remember.

 Have we reached a level of digital fatigue that is causing us to re-evaluate our choices for personal communication? I think so, and I’m not alone. It’s a lot like rediscovering the joy of a quick bike ride after relying on a car for even the shortest trips around home. We don’t need to forsake the automobile altogether. It’s amazing how much joy one can find in simply using the right tool for the right job. People all over the world are quietly awakening to the notion that quality pens, inks, notebooks and stationery can bring a certain pleasure and joy that has been missing for some time.

 NEXT: Why We Write explores an emerging trend that has people searching for journal books and covers, paper planners, pens, inks and writing accessories that match their personal preferences. And they’re using all these tools to re-connect with the root of their unique communication styles and their own voice in a way that digital devices cannot.

We want to hear from you! Leave your comments in the space provided below.