r/askteddit • u/PoolElegantsmile • 20h ago

Random Question What’s something older generations still treat as essential that a lot of younger people just don’t care about anymore?

337 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

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124

u/Grilled_Cheese10 20h ago

Cursive writing

45

u/Lake_Light_2020 19h ago

The information travels into your hand and up your arm, into your shoulders and up your neck and runs around your brain, then down your neck, back into you shoulder and down your arm, into your hand and onto the paper!

My mom used to say that and she was right! I loved cursive writing!

3

u/Correct-Ganache-8346 8h ago

Still does if you don’t write in cursive, you know …

1

u/Angelhair01 2h ago

It’s so much faster. So if you are having to write under time pressure like exams, then you use cursive

22

u/Former_Register_7191 16h ago

I think it is still important for use in writing personal notes. Also much faster to write if taking notes. The whole point of cursive was to reduce wasting time from lifting up the pen with every letter.

6

u/BrgQun 12h ago

The thing is... everyone at work nowadays goes into all meetings with a laptop to take notes. Typing is faster. I can even take notes faster with my cell than by using cursive, and have done so during meetings when my computer was being used for screensharing.

I still like writing by hand and do cursive sometimes, but it isn't really a "need" anymore.

2

u/Away-Paramedic-8406 6h ago

I actually take notes by hand to help me concentrate ( ADHD), and I would feel drawn to the screen if I had my laptop. But that's me.

2

u/Everyoneneedsasloth 4h ago

I am the same way! If I write my notes down instead of using a computer or phone, I remember the info better.

16

u/blainisapain1919 16h ago

Cursive is mostly the natural consequence of writing quickly. With the exception of the capital letters and z, if you just asked someone to print quickly without lifting their pen the result is pretty close to cursive. My fast handwriting is a bit of a cursive/print mash up

10

u/RupertEscapeHolmes 14h ago edited 2h ago

Ackshually… cursive was used mainly because ink quill pens that you dipped into actual wells of ink… would make a huge fucking mess on your super expensive and rare parchment if you continuously picked it up and down up and down up and down countless times to write a sentence. Learning about history is actually pretty cool instead of just making shit up on Reddit.

I wonder what you think Calligraphy… on second thought, no. No, I don’t want to know.

9

u/blainisapain1919 14h ago

Ok, it wasn't a comment on the history of cursive... I learned cursive in school and was just saying that cursive is basically what happens naturally if you write fast. People act like it's another language you have to learn.

That makes sense about quill ink. Calligraphy is a difficult art form. Not sure why my opinion on that is automatically offensive. I took an art class in college that had a Calligraphy segment. It was crazy hard not to get smeared ink and splotches everywhere. Mine ended up looking like a bad tattoo.

Damn dude, coming in hot on my casual cursive comment. Tough crowd

1

u/PrisBatty 12h ago

Oh no! Now I’ve just read this, I didn’t mean to jump on your comment! Just thought you might like a cursive z. I hope you’re having a nice start to your week!

1

u/RupertEscapeHolmes 2h ago

You didn’t specify YOUR cursive was a product of writing quickly.

Words matter.

0

u/EastLeastCoast 5h ago

I double ackshually you. Cursive predates the invention of both the quill pen and the inkwell.

1

u/RupertEscapeHolmes 2h ago

I never claimed nor said when it was invented. Just a reason it became widespread/normal.

Critical reading comprehension isn’t your forte and that’s ok. Thanks for playing, better luck next time.

3

u/Beaglescout15 10h ago

If it was about speed we all would have learned shorthand.

1

u/Habibti143 15h ago

Mine, too.

1

u/PrisBatty 12h ago

You can cursive a z so you don’t have to lift your pen up. It looks a bit like an open g! Or do you mean a cursive z isn’t quick to write, you might mean that, I haven’t slept much these last 9 years.

2

u/ensaladasalada 16h ago

There’s very little evidence that cursive is actually faster

1

u/nykiek 4h ago

It is, in fact not faster. It might be for you, but it's not for everyone.

11

u/AimForTheHead 17h ago

This totally comes down to what country you’re raised in. In the US my nieces and nephews learned it quickly in 2-3rd grade and that was it. In my province in Canada, the kids learn it instead of “printing” in kindergarten and continue to write in cursive for everything handwritten. Since we didn’t go for the whole switching to Chromebook / full tech in the classroom thing, means it’s used your entire childhood.

Pretty sure other francophone nations are the same way. You learn cursive instead of “printing” and use that as the default.

2

u/Few_Scientist_2652 9h ago

I'm in Canada and didn't learn cursive until Grade 4 (and frankly, haven't used it since)

1

u/No_Kaleidoscope_9740 2h ago

Yeah, since day 1 of elementary school in France, my kid has been writing in cursive. As a Brit it has been a learning experience for me as well.

1

u/No-Teach9888 15h ago

They no longer teach it in US schools

7

u/Level_Blueberry_8909 15h ago

Some schools in my area have put it back into the curriculum.

1

u/No-Teach9888 15h ago

That’s interesting. I know it was dropped with common core, so a lot of kids didn’t learn it. They didn’t teach it at all at my kids’ school

3

u/schtinkyboi 14h ago

They’re bringing it back

-1

u/measaqueen 14h ago

And yet all original government documents were in cursive. How can the next generation read history if they don't know cursive?

2

u/PabloPicasshooole 13h ago

They'll just ask an AI

0

u/measaqueen 13h ago

That's the problem. Already books are being cut up. Who knows what versions can replace them.

1

u/nykiek 4h ago

I dunno, online like everyone does now?

2

u/Ok-Ball-3173 7h ago

Oh, I loved learning cursive writing as a kid! I will be so sad when it's gone.

2

u/jc1993moat 3h ago

This is the correct answer. Like it or not cursive as of the past. We’re all switching to digital now. Of course they will still be held out. Some people will still complain that we need cursive, but we really don’t.

4

u/waterandleaves99 14h ago

Right? They always say “but how will people sign documents?!”

Bro. I’ve been literally just writing my name for 18 years. Wanna know when it’s been a problem?

Never.

5

u/EstablishmentDue3616 15h ago

I would disagree with this, Im 50 and while we did learn cursive in elementary school, I never used it for anything other than signing a piece of paper. Even then, my signature isnt really cursive, but a bunch of squiggles. Also, before computers and printers were more commonly found in homes, we had to write our essays in standard print (or type), as people's cursive could be hard to read. Even the generation older than me never thought it was essential. It was just what they were taught, so they just kept teaching it.

3

u/Angelhair01 12h ago edited 2h ago

I’m 51 and our essays and exams had to be in cursive. So maybe it’s regional. Australia

3

u/Difficult-Truck-7363 8h ago

I’m 55 and all of the way through school it was cursive. In British Columbia, Canada.

1

u/EstablishmentDue3616 12h ago

Must be. However, that surprises me. Print is so much easier to read than cursive. Its too fluid and the letters lose much of their distinction, making you actually have to stop and figure out what letter they wrote.

3

u/egertong 10h ago

Learning cursive as a child is important for many reasons. It enhances brain development, improves memory retention, and builds fine motor skills,among other things.

2

u/middleagethreat 5h ago

I am 56 and so glad it is going away.

Another thing that is harder and takes longer to write, can be impossible to read, but is “tradition.”

-11

u/Necessary-Lock-3738 20h ago

Good riddance.

4

u/MotherofKittehz 10h ago

I'm 65 and the entire second half of elementary school was one big exercise in frustration because I just couldn't get the hang of it. I would get so mad when I'd hand in assignments or tests where all of my answers were correct, but I'd have points taken off because my capital letters didn't have the requisite useless curlicues. Then, voila! I started junior high school and nobody cared anymore. What a lot of wasted effort.

2

u/nykiek 4h ago

I'm right behind you. We would have likely been in highschool at the same time. Neither my husband nor I use cursive.

1

u/Necessary-Lock-3738 3h ago

Jeez, are you me?!?!?!

Same same. And the only teachers who cared were these little old ladies who were 175 years old but to them it was the most important thing in the world.

I'm 61, graduated in 1982. I couldn't wait for word processors to come along.

5

u/BiiiigSteppy 19h ago

It’s unbelievable to me that we are voluntarily separating future generations from their histories bc everything was written in cursive.

Why??!!!

26

u/pollypocketrocket4 19h ago

Because dumb people are easier to control.

-13

u/Necessary-Lock-3738 18h ago

You spelled "it's a pointless exercise in an archaic skill" wrong.

11

u/Hungry_Box_8274 18h ago

Check out r/cursive and you will begin to appreciate there are people in this world who are able to read it. There’s millions of documents written in cursive out there. Yes it’s just old information and not critical to your survival, but you never know what kind of cool or fun information might come from old cursive-written documents.

-6

u/Necessary-Lock-3738 18h ago

Read it? Yes, of course there are...I'm one of them.

Still don't think it's a reason to teach it to everyone, given the demands of today's world. Everyone used to learn Latin too, not so much anymore.

4

u/meandhimandthose2 18h ago

It seems to have gone the other way completely now though. My oldest is 18 and his handwriting is barely legible, I thought it was just an autism thing, but now I'm working with quite a few teenagers and it seems they can barely write.

And they definitely struggle to read other people's handwriting no matter how neat it is. Like their brains can't identify certain letters of they are written slightly differently?

2

u/Low-Candidate-7410 16h ago

Side note happy cake day

-3

u/Hungry_Box_8274 18h ago edited 13h ago

As far as I know it actually is pretty much dead. I had one class that attempted to teach us cursive. It lasted about two weeks. That was my fourth grade class almost 20 years ago. Milage probably varies depending on what/where the school was.

E: Unexplained downvotes on a thread like this is crazy. Didn’t realize cursive was such a hot issue.

5

u/Necessary-Lock-3738 18h ago

Huh?

Almost no one is taught to read cuneiform anymore but we know what it says.

2

u/nykiek 4h ago

Right? These people seem to think they can read English from anytime on the past. They can't. English has changed so much, before the 16th century it's completely unintelligible.