OK, I probably shouldn't go into this on a pipe forum, but some broad generalities: Copybook writing where each letter is perfectly formed just as shown on the blackboard, can be a sign of lack of mental or emotional maturity. Or it might be a sign of overt attention to organization. Secretaries and office people often have "nice" writing. 'Sloppy' writing might be a sign of poor thought processes, too many interests at one time pulling you in many directions, or individuality. Once you begin to exceed the sum of what you've been taught to become your own person, you start to deviate from the copybook forms. Some of the smartest people are sloppy writers.
Most kids these days have poor cursive writing and tend to print block letters as individual symbols. What do they look at all day long? Printed text! They often do not learn how to think for themselves because all schools teach is to follow directions. Think of your handwriting as putting on paper a picture of the way you think. Cursive writing involves taking one idea and connecting it with another and another to form a complete thought just as the letters flow from one to the next and the next.
Handwriting a thing of the past? Not quite yet. Though there is a big push to make documents all electronic, nothing is more inexact or easy to steal, copy or forge than your signatures on those electronic pads such as at the supermarket! Do they even look at all like your real, everyday writing? It is all driven by a desire for speed and cost-effectiveness, but nothing is more secure than your genuine signature in ink on a sheet of paper. So be an individual: smoke your pipe and keep signing your name on paper using a thick, fat fountain pen! :mrgreen:
As to the OP's point, never before have we seen so many people who cannot think, write and type because schools and kids have raised and are being raised with an overt preoccupation with smartphones and spellcheckers to do it for them. The world of the Millennial is not the real world of people and events, just look at them-- their world is inside that tiny electronic box they carry in their pocket and cannot put down for 5 minutes! Most kids have no idea about the real world anymore and barely know how to interact face to face.