I thought this was going to be the same article I've read a 1000 times - how computers killed writing. But it's much smarter than that; explaining how the thick, sticky ink required to make ball-point pens work made writing, especially, cursive, basically, too hard.
"Fountain pens want to connect letters. Ballpoint pens need to be convinced to write."
My own hand-writing revived about 5 years ago when I stared carrying a Kaweco Sport fountain pen around wherever I went.