The pen is mightier than the smartphone for millennials

FOUNTAIN pens are back in fashion as young people turn to handwriting in an attempt to escape the digital age.

Experts are crediting a rise in sales to so-called “millennials” wanting to find an “antidote” to their increasingly digital lives.

Wendy Vickery, marketing director at stationery company Pentel UK, said young people are increasingly “keen to put down their smartphones and pick up a pen to write letters, notes and messages to loved ones, friends and colleagues”.

She added: “Writing has become an escape for the younger generation from their digital lives.”

Sales of Pentel fountain pens to independent retailers have increased by six per cent year-on-year, while luxury pen retailer Pen Heaven said they had seen fountain pen sales over a six-month period increase by 26 per cent compared with the previous year, and 48 per cent compared with the year before that.

“We have seen a significant increase in fountain pen sales over the past two years, outstripping growth in any other writing type we sell,” said David Cole, director of Pen Heaven.

“The increased interest in the fountain pen is an antidote to our reliance on technology. Out of all the writing instruments, it has the closest connection to a time gone by when the pace of life was slower.

“Taking a bit more care to use a fountain pen is a calming process, offering a tactile experience that is the antithesis of text and email.”

Joe Kershaw, director of The Online Pen Company, said: “It’s a nice relaxing escape from the screen and digital life to put pen to paper.”