Philip Hensher defends handwriting in a digital age

The rise of electronic communication has rendered handwriting virtually archaic, but what part of ourselves do we sacrifice in the transition from pen to keyboard? That’s the question Philip Hensher tackles in his forthcoming book, The Missing Ink: The Lost Art of Handwriting, and Why it Still Matters. In an excerpt published by The Guardian this week, Hensher acknowledges that digital communication does present economic benefits, but laments the loss of individuality intrinsic to every handwritten word. “We have surrendered our handwriting for something more mechanical, less distinctively human, less telling about ourselves and less present in our moments of the highest happiness and the deepest emotion,” he writes. “Ink runs in our veins, and shows the world what we are like.”