When Swiping Supplants Scissors - by Amber Case

Cayce’s Substack

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When Swiping Supplants Scissors<br>The Hidden Cost of Touchscreens, and how Designers Can Help

Amber Case<br>Jun 08, 2026

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The history of technology is full of innovators who got their start creating with their hands. Steve Jobs cites a calligraphy class at Reed College as influencing the design of the Mac; Susan Kare, who designed the Apple icons we still use today, had a childhood immersed in arts, crafts, and embroidery.<br>It’s a keen irony that their work evolved into smartphones and tablets — devices that have inadvertently led to a whole generation whose primary mode of interaction is a flat glass touchscreen. I was shocked to to recently read how much a lack of physical tactility is affecting fine motor skills of kids:<br>Cayce’s Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

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A recent survey by Education Week found that 77 percent of educators reported young students having greater difficulties handling pencils, pens, and scissors. In comparison, 69 percent noted increased struggles with tying shoes compared to five years ago.<br>Children are losing critical fine motor skills — the small, precise movements required to tie a shoelace, write with a pen, or build a tower.<br>“It’s like they’ve never seen a block,” says Hornbeck, an instructional coach at Beverly City Public Schools in New Jersey, describing how kids fumble when asked to stack just three blocks. “The things they do with the block when you’ve just shown them what to do is boggling.”

It’s painful for me to picture a kid struggling to use scissors, trying to coordinate their small hands to work two blades at the same time.<br>The shift away from the tactile is so profound, I’m beginning to explore it with some first-hand reporting for an upcoming project. In this essay, I’ll share some of my early findings, contrast them with my own childhood experiences, then conclude with some principles and research that I hope inspire designers and companies to help restore tactile interactivity in our lives.<br>Chromebooks for Kids — But Few Paintbrushes

I recently interviewed Cathy, a veteran teacher with over 30 years of teaching experience at elementary school in Salem, Oregon about what she’s seen in classrooms over time.

A photo of a child enrolled in Salem, Oregon’s school district with a chromebook (Photo credit).<br>Cathy told me that the school’s Kindergarteners now get Chromebooks “to keep up with the times”. She explained:<br>They have little badges, like they have their password on them, and they just wave it in front of the Chrome Chromebook [so] they don’t have to memorize all that early on. Kindergarten is more like first grade now, and it used to be like a preschool, I would say now it’s advanced to first grade level, and first grade is like second grade, and everything’s accelerated.

She also added that visual arts and crafts aren’t keeping up with this shift; there was only a single painting project during the entire last semester at her school.

A kid painting as part of Learning to Draw and Paint: A Natural Process (Image credit)<br>A kid painting as part of Learning to Draw and Paint: A Natural Process (Image credit)<br>Our need for touch is fundamental to how we engage with the world. The human mind expects texture and tactility. It helps us orient ourselves to the world and use objects more easily. When we ignore crafts that engage hands and not just eyes, we reduce opportunities for kids to learn spatially and effectively.<br>How a Childhood of Crafts & Early Computers Shaped Me

When I was little, my room had very few toys. I had LEGOs and some matchbox cars, and was encouraged to figure out how to use cardboard, tape, and scissors to make more toys of my own. It taught me to problem solve and work with as little resources as possible.<br>I think back to my dad teaching me how to solder circuitboards before I even got to preschool. He told me all about how to hold the soldering iron, months before he allowed me to hold it. When he saw that my hand-eye coordination was strong enough, I assisted him in building the circuit boards. These were huge moments for me. My dad was teaching me alongside his own, professional work. He treated me like an adult, while also being careful to understand my own level as a growing kid.<br>I am certain all of this learning and creating with my hands contributed to any success I later earned throughout my career in technology.

My dad showed a three-year-old me how to test speaker equipment in our childhood backyard in the early ‘90s.<br>I also think back to getting my first personal computer, in my early teens, and how much it changed me. It replaced my backyard and my construction tools. I started to stay up late. It affected my sleep. While it consumed more and more of my time, I drew less. I was less happy. The information on the screen was...