The cursive comeback

Why learning cursive writing in the age of screens can build discipline, creativity, and deeper personal connections

- JESSICA PAG-IWAYAN

LETTERS FROM THE HEART Cursive writing slowly finds its way back to mainstream culture through mails and journals (Image from Netflix's 'To All the Boys I've Loved Before')

The year 2026 is shaping up to be a surprising comeback story for handwritten letters.

Snail mail, once dismissed as outdated, is slowly finding its way back into mainstream culture through journaling communities, pen pal clubs, and aesthetic desk setups on social media. Ironically, as interest in letter writing grows, fewer young people can read or write in cursive.

In the United States, cursive was removed from the required Common Core Standards during a major shift toward digital learning, prompting many schools to stop formally teaching it. A similar trend has quietly unfolded in the Philippines, where keyboards and touchscreens have largely replaced notebooks and penmanship drills. For a generation raised on screens, words written in cursive may feel like a foreign language.

But for calligrapher and engraving artist Sheils Torralba that is exactly why it matters.

"In today’s digital world, everyone is into typing and using their phones," she tells Manila Bulletin Lifestyle. “But there is a more personal touch when you create something with your hands.”