Being Forced to Think While Crafting Sentences

Technology is a wonderful tool, but those using the modern conveniences may not be communicating as well as they could be.  Jason Snell has written a piece comparing his experiences with laptop, pen/paper, and iPad.  He began to notice that "my writing can change radically just by changing the method I use to get those words out of my head."  While in college, necessity forced shifting from a typewriter to pen and paper.  He observed:

Writing with pen and paper felt appreciably different from typing.  My mind would try to race ahead, but my pen could only go so fast.  I ended up considering every sentence, every word choice, with greater care simply because I couldn’t dash it out and move ahead. It was some of the best writing I’d done up to that time…. 

I understand this phenomenon. There are many blog posts and e-mails I have sent out only to have someone question the meaning.  I knew what I meant at the time, but the recipient had no basis of context, therefore clarification was required.

I have come to understand that slower is better.  When the message needs to be clear and sincere, the best course is to take up pen/paper and slowly craft the sentences.  After proper editing and rework, the message can be formatted using the word processor of choice.

This is my routine.  If you do not have the same difficulties as I, all the best to you.  And possibly all who are part of the Baby Boomer generation and older suffer from the same malady.  But maybe going through the effort of "old school" writing mechanics will help younger generations to better use their native or adopted languages.