Handwriting - Elective or Mandatory?

If we are already in an age when kids learn how to use a touchscreen device before they learn how to handle a pencil, how long will it be before writing as we know it becomes obsolete?

When was the last time you (hand-) wrote a letter?

Its use already seems in decline:

“A 2012 survey of 2,000 adults by UK mailing firm Docmail found that on average, it had been 41 days since respondents wrote - and that two-thirds of us only write short notes like shopping lists.”

Interesting read.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41927258