Does handwriting limit creativity?
Most teachers believe handwriting beats typing. A teacher at the AATE conference gave us a counterpoint we didn't expect.
Daniel Gibbon5 August 2026Most teachers believe handwriting beats typing. But a teacher we spoke to at the Australian Association for the Teaching of English (AATE) conference raised a counterpoint we really didn't expect.
They said handwriting can be limiting because it forces people to think linearly. When you write by hand, you move from one sentence to the next and continue down the page. It becomes harder to rearrange ideas, expand your thinking, and keep refining the work.
Typing, on the other hand, lets you expand wherever, edit from anywhere and restructure ideas much more often. Which, if you think about it, makes sense.
“For the first time, I am questioning what is best for creativity.”
The teacher raised this in the context of Aboriginal storytelling traditions, as she had just spoken to Graham Akhurst, an Aboriginal writer, who explained how their language is not necessarily linear.
This contradicts the common belief that handwriting automatically creates more flow or creativity.
I still use my pen and notebook when I'm planning, and I don't know if I plan on switching. But for the first time, I am questioning what is best for creativity.