An Outdated Rite

At school, we're mastering the reading and writing of Thai. And what I'm finding is that as well as the 80-odd letters and confusing tone rules, it's the physical act of writing that is causing me to struggle. Having worked in the technology industry for 15 years, I've had no real use for pen and paper, and I seem to have lost the ability to write in English, let alone Thai. Makes me wonder if I should just learn to type in Thai instead; perhaps the skill of handwriting is one not worth acquiring these days.
One positive aspect of all this is that I've got to play around with the latest in pencil and eraser technology. We're required to use pencils at school, due to the inevitability of mistakes. I have to go back to Primary School (30 years, arghh) to remember the last time I used one in anger. And things have definitely moved on; these funky clicky pencils have rendered the sharpener industry redundant, whilst the cutting-edge polymer erasers are truly a joy to use; no smudging and none of that pesky eraser dust getting everywhere.
(PS in terms of eraser/rubber terminology, I find the former avoids embarrassing confusion, what with the preponderance of US-English here)