Question 3340 – 2015 December NTA UGC NET Paper 1

Read the following passage carefully and answer question numbers 13 to 17.
I did that thing recently where you have to sign a big card – which is a horror unto itself, especially as the keeper of the Big Card was leaning over me at the time. Suddenly I was on the spot, a rabbit in the headlights, torn between doing a fun message or some sort of in-joke or a drawing. Instead overwhelmed by the myriad options available to me, I decided to just write “Good luck, best, Joel”.
It was then that I realised, to my horror, that I had forgotten how to write. My entire existence is “tap letters into computer”. My shopping lists are hidden in the notes function of my phone. If I need to remember something I send an e-mail to myself. A pen is something I chew when I’m struggling to think. Paper is something I pile beneath my laptop to make it a more comfortable height for me to type on.
A poll of 1,000 teens by the stationers, Bic found that one in 10 don’t own a pen, a third have never written a letter, and half of 13 to 19 years – old have never been forced to sit down and write a thank you letter. More than 80% have never written a love letter, 56% don’t have letter paper at home. And a quarter has never known the unique torture of writing a birthday card. The most a teen ever has to use a pen is on an exam paper.
Bic, have you heard of mobile phones? Have you heard of e-mail, facebook and snap chatting? This is the future. Pens are dead. Paper is dead. Handwriting is a relic.
“Handwriting is one of the most creative outlets we have and should be given the same importance as other art forms such as sketching, painting or photography.”

When confronted with signing a big card, the author felt like “a rabbit in the headlight”. What does this phrase mean?

Correct Answer: A