Children’s handwriting has become so poor that teenagers now need lessons in secondary school.

Experts in the UK are warning that society’s ‘over-reliance’ on technology is behind the continuing fall in children’s handwriting abilities.

On Newstalk Breakfast today, Flea Market Love Letters creator and curator Liz Maguire said the ‘art’ of handwriting is being lost due to a lack of practice.

“Handwriting is an art form and, I think, as with any art form, it requires practice,” she said.

“The over reliance or the popularisation of tech is definitely affecting the way that we communicate.”

Mental health

Ms Maguire said there are ‘huge mental health benefits’ that come with practising writing.

“There is a proven link between memory and the act of writing – and how that bridge is built between the act of putting the words or the thoughts down and the ability to recall them,” she said.

“There are also huge mental health benefits to being able to turn off the screen and write, which is why things like letter writing and journaling became so popular during COVID, because people were saturated with screens.

“I think we came back to life after COVID, and we all just sort of fell back into the same routines.”

COVID-19

Ms Maguire said that while many families had made efforts to cut down on their children's use of technology during the pandemic, these habits were harder to maintain when life returned back to normal.

She said many children had simply been 'handed back the I-Pads', and that the impact of this 'hadn't really been considered'.

Ms Maguire recommended that parents encourage their children to write letters to family members or friends to build up their handwriting skills.

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