Understanding Y

CHAPTER 7 Millennial Communications

Charlie Caruso

Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something.

Plato

I'll never forget entering my grade one classroom, eagerly anticipating my new journey as a ‘big kid’. I still remember the smell, the luxury of nap times in the afternoon, playing ‘heads down thumbs up’, and that getting your name on the board was a big deal. One thing in particular happened that year that still, to this day, seems like a big deal for me: I learned how to write.

Our teacher set a class game: we were instructed to write our first names as many times as we could in one minute. My full name is Charlotte — and I was sitting next to a young boy called Hal. That's right: H-A-L.

How on earth was that fair?

Of course, it wasn't, but it was one game over 21 years ago — so why do I remember it so clearly? The truth is, from that point on I formed the basis of my handwriting style on a need for speed — to compensate for that game I was never going to win.

The decline of handwriting

As a Gen Y born in 1987, handwriting was a major part of my primary and high school education. In school, we were forced to follow a handwriting rule book, which commenced the formation of our own personal writing style — a style so unique that, to this very day, I can look at a collection of handwritten letters from girlfriends (and boyfriends) of the past, and be able to tell you, at a single glance — ten or 15 years later — who wrote ...