Why Are Ballpoint Pens So Bad?

Ballpoint Pens are known for a lot of things. They are as well popularly known to perform a lot of functions. Even though these functions are promulgated, it would not hurt to acknowledge the faults despite their seemingly impeccable reputation as one of the best brands of pen ever.

Well, the fact that ballpoint pens are extremely useful cannot be doubted, but then, they have a whole other side which is not so good.

Why are ballpoint pens so bad? Why would you use a pen that creates more problems than it solves? Even your own handwriting looks terrible when writing with such a pen.

But if you want an obviously rational reason, here it is – they got that cute clicky-clicky thingy in them that you can operate in boring meetings and drive your coworkers bonkers with. Haha. I’m telling you, these little cheap devils will drive you nuts when you invest in them!

It skips, it digs trenches into the paper, it requires two or three times more effort and gets half the amount done! *sigh* They are just uncomfortable, they feel too light, they feel cheap (probably because they are both cheap and rife), and you must buy a new one every two weeks! Can you believe that?!

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Contents

What are the disadvantages of a ballpoint pen?

Oh, apart from the ones above, there are definitely more disadvantages of ballpoint pens. In fact, I would not be surprised if you already knew them (Of course, you must have used a couple of ballpoint pens before, huh? Otherwise, you would not be on this thread). Shall we begin?

Not so many choices in colour and tip size

Ballpoint pens mostly come in either blue or black probably because those are highly in demand. It is hard to get green, pink, orange or other types of colours.

Smudging

Ballpoint pens can smudge or break in the click mechanism.

Rollerball problems

Since ballpoint pens make use of a rollerball mechanism, they can get stuck and stop working properly. Another problem with ballpoint and rollerball pens is that the ink supply relies on the ball.

When the pressure applied is not sufficient or when the ball changes direction, there can be blank spots in the writing. There can also be blobs of ink caused by ink build-ups on the ball.

The ink from pens and markers is considered minimally toxic and it is difficult to be exposed to large quantities of it. Thus, the likelihood that you will get ink poisoning by ingesting ink from a pen or getting some on your skin or in your eye is slight. But slight or not, stay a thousand feet away from whatever has the ability of poisoning you.

Is ballpoint pen good for writing?

Ballpoint and rollerball pens might not be the best option for writing after all. The mechanics involved in writing with a ballpoint or rollerball pen require that the user apply firm pressure to the pen so that the ball rotates against the paper and releases ink.

Because of this, users tend to over-grip the pen and apply so much pressure when writing that they end up with pain in their hands and wrists. Sometimes, this can even lead to carpal tunnel syndrome; and that, my friend, is bad news!

How often do ballpoint pens get damaged?

Ballpoint pens get damaged pretty frequently. Okay, hear me out now. Remember I initially said ballpoint pens are very cheap, and you know what risks come with the use of cheap products—they are fragile.

Ballpoint pens get broken often when slightly mishandled. Sometimes, they slip off your hand, drop on the floor and surprisingly, they will not work anymore. It is really bizarre if you ask me.

Come on, why do we still invest in these brands of pen, huh? The nib might break while you are writing, and nibs are hardly fixed because fixing them would be a gloomy nightmare. And when the nib breaks, the pen smears and all the ink gets exhausted in no time at all.

Although ballpoint pens are not as ancient or vintage-like fountain pens, the latter appears to work better and last longer.

By the way, these are just my opinions, of course. Your ballpoint pens cannot be mishandled at the rate other brands of pens can be. The ballpoint pen can only withstand so little.

Do ballpoint pens give you bad handwriting?

It is apparent. These cheap products do give you bad handwriting especially if they have developed a fault. Blobbing, smearing, seizing of the rollerballs and breaking of pen nibs all contribute the faults that are developed by ballpoint pens.

Why do ballpoint pens affect your penmanship?

Beautiful penmanship is a combination of visual features that make each letter and word consistently easy to recognize.

You may be holding the pen with an awkward grip or at a weird angle. Your posture may be less than ideal. All of these elements contribute to the ability to write legibly.

However, in some cases, handwriting can be difficult to read simply because the writer used a cheap writing implement. Sometimes, you do not have a choice in what pen you use.

We have all grabbed one out of the jar at the dentist’s office to sign a receipt only to find it is nearly out of ink or drops great globs of ink on the paper. These poor-quality pens are frustrating to use, and the words they write, impossible to read.

Common ballpoint pens require pressure to get the ink to the paper. The more force needed to write, the harder one must grip the pen.

This tight grip on the pen leads to tension and fatigue in the small muscles of the hand. When these muscles are tired, it is difficult to write well.

Holding the pen improperly can also lead to poor penmanship. You should never feel like you have to squeeze the pen to get it to write.

Try to maintain a loose grip between your thumb and forefinger roughly one inch from the pen’s tip and rest it on your middle finger near the fingernail.

The pen’s shaft should rest near the knuckle of the index finger and not on the thumb. This grip should allow you to engage larger arm muscles for writing instead of the small muscles in your fingers and hand that grows tired quickly.

When did ballpoint pen become so popular?

When the War ended, ballpoint pens went into commercial production in 1945. The public instantly fell in love. When they were first on the market, the Reynolds Rocket—America’s first ballpoint pen—sold for $12.50 (about $150 today).

And yet, in their first five months of existence, the Reynolds International Pen Company reported selling 1.5 million pens, requiring them to up production from 70 units per day on October 7, 1945 to 30,000 units per day the following February.

In 1945, the first inexpensive ballpoint pens were manufactured when Frenchman Marcel Bich developed the industrial process for making the pens that lowered the unit cost dramatically. From there…look where we are now.

Is the ballpoint pen the worst pen to buy?

Okay look, I’m going to be honest right here this instant. Ballpoint pens are not the worst ever. They may have a whole lot of demerits but that does not make them the worst.

There are, of course, pens that are way worse, I mean, flat out terrible! There are pens that you would order for and stop working after the first time of use, even if you handled them with ultimate care.

Ballpoint pens are not the worst and they can never be the worst. I’m not saying this because I’m a big fan of particular brands of pen or whatnot, it is just that, you might never realize how bad something is until you try a worse one.

What common faults do ballpoint pens have?

Leaking and Smearing

Ballpoint pens often leak when the temperature is raised. When people wear them in a shirt pocket, the temperature of the human body raises the heat of the ink cartridge causing the ink to flow.

Drying after exposure to air

One of the most common issues ballpoint pens face when it comes to them drying out is exposure to air. When air gets inside the cartridge, it will make the ink dry up. And for ballpoint ink, which is already quite thick, this will normally clog it completely.

Breaking and Malfunction of the rollerball

Breaking of the pen nib and malfunction of the rollerball is one of the common faults of ballpoint pens.