I never learned to write cursive, because I have a hand tremor that made it completely unreadable. But I have heard from people with properly working hands that it’s a shame so few people are learning cursive these days, because it’s so much faster to write. And okay, I’ll accept this premise.

But it’s harder for the other person to read. Even if they are well-practiced at reading cursive, it will take longer than print. And as cursive literacy falls, that ideal scenario is becoming less and less the case. Also, it’s even harder for people with visual processing disabilities, like some presentations of autism. The case nearly always is, when you write cursive as opposed to print, you make things harder for the reader of your work.

So the bottom line is, cursive is “great” because it saves you effort, even though you’ll inconvenience somebody else down the line. I see no problem with writing cursive in your diary or notebook, if only you will read it. But if you’re expecting someone else to read your cursive, you’re being selfish. You’re taking away their time to save yourself some time. You’re not putting your best foot forward to help them out, you’re being lazy and inconveniencing them.

I see the death of cursive as a revolution in courtesy. The younger generations write print because they’re nice, kind people. And the rude old people complaining about the death of cursive are really complaining that there are bigger consequences to their rudeness these days.

Also thank the gods for pharmacists.