There's an old article from The Atlantic [1] that makes the case that the ballpoint pen killed cursive: they require much more pressure to write with compared to rollerball or fountain pens. Like the author, I started using a fountain pen and it makes so much more sense why you would write in cursive with that thing.
If you like taking analog notes, I highly recommend getting yourself a starter fountain pen and some good paper (emphatically not Moleskin—those work best with pencils; too much bleed with fountain pen ink) and enjoy hand writing as it was meant to be. ;)
I second your recommendation for trying fountain pens. I suffer from some form of arthritis, and fountain pens let me write again.
There are a variety of cheap ones available; I'm fond of the Platinum Preppy. They're cheap as chips, write nicely, and have a fine version that actually lives up to its name. The Lamy Safari is also popular, but I found it too chunky to be comfortable.
Very nice! I know a lot of people like the Platinum Preppy. I typically use a LAMY Al-Star, but I never post the cap on the end of the pen while writing—the pen has much better balance when the cap is on the table. I also really like my Pilot Metropolitan.
Handwriting is meant to be legible. My impressions is that those who can write legibly with a ballpoint pen can write legibly with a fountain pen and vice-versa. I say this as one who took up typing as soon as he could.
If you like taking analog notes, I highly recommend getting yourself a starter fountain pen and some good paper (emphatically not Moleskin—those work best with pencils; too much bleed with fountain pen ink) and enjoy hand writing as it was meant to be. ;)
[1]: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/08/ballp...