I agree with all of the things you wrote, the younger generation can't write because they play some stupid games and "live" in the virtual world, they go do school and get notes, they were supposed to be taught on how to write, but actually not a lot of them can write reasonable sentences, not even talking about writing different stories, their imagination is just too shallow.
I was so surprised when I found out that my 8yr old grandson was not learning cursive in school. Cursive can be so beautiful. In fact, handwritting is not taught at all and his printing is atrocious. I try working with him on it so it will be legible, but get so frustrated i finally give up. But then, a couple of days later I work with him some more. His numbers are hard to read too. I talked to his teacher about his handwritting when school started this year and she did say she planned on working with the kids some because she had noticed that most had the sloppiest penmanship she had seen in several years.
I'm also missing handwritten notes and letters. During the days before the internet, we would be exchanging notes in the office. Do you remember the Post-It of 3M? That small pad with an adhesive at the back so you can stick it to the table? In the early years of the digital age, I would receive computer-printed cards using Printshop software. That would do in place of the usual greeting cards that we used to buy in the bookstores. But now it's the e-greeting that I receeive. That one with fancy fonts and graphics. Lately the e-cards are using videos with a variety of styles and gimmicks. And a sender would just click the selections and presto. So where do we go from here? How are the kids going to develop their writing skills in terms of physical handwriting, grammar, sentence construction and spelling? I don't know. I was born yesterday so at least I had experienced real writing, that one using pen and paper.
I write handwritten letters to my mom and my ex's mom a couple of times a year. They have grown shorter because it hurts to write, and my handwriting is so atrocious, but I still write them and send tangible cards. I also receive them from those two, but once they or I are gone, I guess it will die out. My sister has stopped sending cards, and my brother never did. My friends don't bother. With them, it's all virtual cards, as @Corie Henson mentioned. By the way, I still use post-its. I also enclose a small handwritten thank you with the items I sell. I tend to print on those, though, since my handwriting can be difficult to read.
My husband has been complaining to me the other day that his handwriting seems to be turning for the worse. He is proud of his penmanship because he writes good, very clear and legible - he is a writer even before the computer came about. But now that he is stuck with the keyboard all the time, writing with pen is a rarity in his routine. Same with me, the only use of pen for me is when I sign an document. Even in jotting down notes, I use my phone for that. Maybe in the years to come, we might forget how to write with the pen and worse, we wouldn't be able to read our own handwriting. I would dread that day.
After reading all the posts here, I feel so bad for flippantly letting my son skip the cursive writing and spelling pages in his English subject yesterday . He's done very well, neatly and proudly with his work-of-art in the past lessons. I thought I was rewarding him by "advancing" him to move on to the next page. A little while ago, I took out his booklet and will sit with him again to encourage him to love the art of careful writing and spelling. He enjoys it, actually. What have we got to lose? We're not in a hurry!
I do find it puzzling that kids don't know how to sign their names. However, I know that the real purpose of writing is to communicate thoughts and ideas. I would rather have someone be able to express themselves in the written word rather than be able to sign something. It might be a shame that our kids' signatures won't look like John Hancock's signature, however, times change. Cursive writing is not vital to our existence. In my opinion, it's not one of those battles worth fighting.
Kids don't know how to manually do anything anymore. I work in a high school and it is so sad to see high school kids that not only can't write cursive, do simple math but they can't tell time without their digital phones. When students are cashiers and the register doesn't tell them how much change to give the customer, they are lost. Thanks to cell phones and computers they write everything in abbreviation and expect electronics to do all the work for them.