The word processor was supposed to free writers from the drudgery and physical discomfort of manual composition, allowing them to produce more, better and tidier texts. Research has belied these claims, however. The cognitive psychology literature on the subject is surprisingly abundant, and the findings strikingly consistent. There are people who argue that the braking constraints of writing by hand lead to more considered expression. Reading is an important part of the writing process.
Writers move back and forth between writing and reading as they produce text.
Despite advancements in the technology, studies continue to indicate that reading from a screen display is significantly slower and slightly less accurate than reading from hard copy, and these impediments to reading and comprehension may well have an impact on revision and editing. Because the technologies allowed or even invited certain kinds of notemaking activities, they also, then, allowed or invited the thinking that is required by those activities. By supporting one kind of physical writing activity rather than another, technologies can affect writers' thinking processes in very real ways. Above all, it is a grasping of the text in its entirety. It is this grasp which eludes writers' reach so long as the text is present only on the screen.