Single Space or Double Space?

A Matter of Choice (Just Be Consistent)
 

Since the advent of the computer (the writing / document-processing software Microsoft Word, in particular), I have been using a single space after a period. I remember back in my elementary and highschool days (and even in early university), in the 1980s, when the available tool for writing term papers was the typewriter, I put two spaces after a period. I learned this from school and from my mother who worked as a secretary in her younger days.

Now, why do I use one space instead of two? Primarily it's just for brevity and to save space. In the context of a 30-page essay or a 300-page novel, using one space after every period instead of two will have given me extra few pages at the most--depending on the length of my sentences.

However, concerning the question of which is right and which is wrong--the use of single space or the use of double space--I think that none is really incorrect. It's just a matter of choice and consistency. After all, in the perspective of a writer, having saved a couple of pages is not really a big deal.

If the writer prefers single space (like me), then s/he should be free to apply it--so long as the use of a single space is consistent all throughout a particular work. If s/he prefers double spacing, which is practically just being consistent with the typewriter age, then s/he should be--in the same freedom of expression--free to do so--yet again, as long as the use of double spacing is maintained in one single document or body of work.

What I am not in support of is some people's penchant to instil that unnecessary sense of guilt for almost anything that other individuals choose to take especially when such a choice is different from theirs.