When was the last time you actually sat down and wrote a letter by hand?

If you’re like many digitally savvy Americans, it has likely been a while.

The laborious process of tracing out our thoughts, letter by letter, on the page is becoming a relic of the past in our screen-dominated world, where text messages and thumb-typed grocery lists have replaced handwritten letters and sticky notes.

To keep up with technology’s advances, many schools are introducing computers as early as preschool, meaning some kids may learn the basics of typing before writing by hand.

But, according to this great blog from NPR,  giving up this slower, more tactile way of expressing ourselves may come at a significant cost. In the blog, the author explores a growing body of research that’s uncovering the surprising cognitive benefits of taking pen to paper, or even stylus to iPad — for both children and adults.

In kids, studies show that tracing out ABCs, as opposed to typing them, leads to better and longer-lasting recognition and understanding of letters. Writing by hand also improves memory and recall of words, laying down the foundations of literacy and learning.

For adults, one of the main benefits of writing by hand is that it simply forces us to slow down.

During a meeting or lecture, it’s possible to type what you’re hearing verbatim, but you are not actually processing the information you’re typing. However, the relative slowness of writing forces you to actually process the information.