In Asia, they worry that children are beginning to forget how to write characters (Chinese/Kanji/Korean)Laura
In Korea we have been phasing out Chinese characters since the 70s, because it is deemed pro-Japanese Colonial Rule.
The only things that are written in Chinese characters these days is:
1. A political (usually presidential) candidate's last name (Kim, Lee, Park..)
2. Very simple characters (1~10000, days of week, ..only a few hundred characters)
3. Medical or other expert words that have synonyms or are uncommon in the popular lexicon. However, in this case, the word appears with the chinese as a meaning: PRONOUNCE(meaning)
4. Names of Chinese or Japanese foreigners as: PRONOUNCE(how it is written)
For the most part you do not need to know any Chinese to get by in Korea since many people can't read them, but it's good to know some if you are in an expert field like medicine, research or law.
I do however agree that automation is cutting down on the Japanese kanji reproduce ability. There is three things that happen in Kanji: Understanding it (see a kanji, know what it means), Reading it (many different ways to read one kanji depending on how it's used or which letters it's next to), and Recalling it (being able to write out a kanji from memory).
Since the introduction of computers and phones with automated kanji conversion, there has indeed been a decline in kanji recall.
In English, it would be like if everyone knew how to read the word "Psychological" but if no one was sure if should be spelt "Sighkalawgecull" or "Sciecalogicol" or "Psyckolagical". You know the word is spelled wrong, but you can't remember how it is supposed to be spelt!
As a result, people have a tough time writing letters on paper or filling out forms (a common complaint is that many people feel the need to look up how to write a kanji because they can't remember how to), or notes, or sometimes recalling how to write a name even if it is common (like what city they are from).
The tricky thing is though, many people don't know what words they don't know how to write. They can read as well as before they started using their cell phones and computers with the automated kanji conversion, but because there is less reason to write, their kanji recall is much less than the word they can read. So it's really misleading.
People assume that because they can read a word that they can also write it, but the muscle memory of writing that word is no longer there.