On one hand (heh) there’s apparently evidence to suggest that handwriting activates parts of the brain which aren’t typically activated by just typing something out. I can see how that would be the case and why it could sometimes be useful.
On the other, the idea of carrying a little notebook around to jot things down when I have a phone in my pocket, or using a fountain pen for longform text (trust me it would actually help you avoid hand cramps, aside from being less wasteful) all comes across as… intentionally inefficient? I struggle to see intentional inefficiency as anything but pretension. Like it’s all just fetishizing living a more analogue life.
It actually makes the techbro in me think there’s something to companies like Supernote and Boox and ReMarkable making e-ink tables that exist mainly so that what you do choose to write by hand can be digitized, stored and made searchable.
I suppose that’s actually exactly why people tend to journal in physical notebooks? Because what you put down in there will just disappear unless you crack open that notebook again.
…Meanwhile I’m pretty sure a lot of people feel that writing things by hand gets their creative juices flowing. That’s sort of interesting to me, because personally, by the time I’m finished writing a single sentence whatever I was thinking about is halfway gone. If I don’t get it down real quick my thoughts will drift to something else entirely, so when I had to handwrite essays in primary school I’d get completely stuck in a way I never do just typing things.
TL;DR someone who’s bad at empathy talks about handwriting as if everyone else experiences the world exactly the same way, please knock him off of his stupid pedestal
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I don’t see writing by hand as “intentionally inefficient”, I see it as an extremely easy way to reconnect with physical creation of some description.
We’ve all been trained to believe that we have to be as efficient as possible in order to maximise our profitability. But why? Why not take a few moments to do things a slower, more thoughtful way?
I like writing by hand - where appropriate. It feels nice to put ideas on paper. And as a bonus, those ideas don’t then get hoovered up whichever company made whichever app you’re writing into.
I agree with doing things thoughtfully. My handwriting is better when I slow down, and it looks good! I can take a moment to be proud of how it looks!
I am quite sure I have ADHD (though not officially diagnosed), with that in mind here’s my story.
There’s a veritable cornucopia of programs and systems available to utilize when it comes to keeping digital notes, and none of them stick for me. I desperately want them to work, because I loathe writing things by hand due to hand cramps and poor penmanship. The thing I get hung up on a lot is getting comfortable in a certain software-based note-taking ecosystem and then running straight into a wall when I want it to do one particular thing I’ve identified as being useful, or perhaps the software just becomes unreliable for one reason or another. It’s highly demotivating to me when I realize I’ve spent hours using something only for it to end up not working for me the way I wanted it to. Also, when I write digital notes, I have a very bad habit of editing, as if someone other than myself were to read my notes later (irrational, I know), so the process takes much longer than if I were to put the pen to paper.
The thing about pen and paper is, it just works. I might run out of paper or ink, but assuming I have access to more, I can write whatever and however I want. Sure, I don’t get automation or full-text search “out of the box”, but I can devise my own systems (short-hand, indexing, etc.) or borrow someone else’s (Bullet Journal), even use external tools (scan document | OCR) to meet my needs when the time comes.
Right now I’m in the middle of building a habit of keeping a small journal on my person where I keep very simple remarks about my day and track personal tasks and events. I’m explicitly only using systems that I find useful and nearly effortless, but as I improve the habit I will try adding more complexity. I feel that if I can develop a solid core of analog writing, then it’s likely I can begin to introduce more regular digital note-taking to augment this core practice.
I don’t believe there is one method that works (or is even beneficial) for everyone, rather I think it’s more important for individuals to find a method (or hybrid) that works for them, and stick to it.
It can certainly help with retention and processing of information because you’re using both your mind and body to do it, but I have always struggled with it. I wasn’t able to legibly write my own name until my early 20’s and any small amount of writing badly hurt my hand. The struggle and discomfort takes away from any benefit and enjoyment it might have given me.
Same. I write as if I had Parkinson’s. I guess part of my typing this out is me trying to process how I keep flip-flopping between “people keep telling me this is useful” and “no, getting to the point where it would be useful for me would take way too much effort”.
Writing by hand is definitely the main way I learn. The act of writing it embeds it in my memory moreso than looking at a screen.
I wonder how much of that is down to how we were taught though and it being more familiar and linked with education and cognition. Someone must have done a study on this somewhere.
I wonder how much of that is down to how we were taught though and it being more familiar and linked with education and cognition.
I’d be curious to learn more about that as well. I never felt a strong difference in embedding to memory between writing or typing something, but my dad also started putting me in front of computers as early as when I was, like, 4? I by no means can’t speak on it academically, but anecdotally speaking, I’d suspect that getting in front of a mouse and keyboard relatively early on might’ve played a part in that?
I’d like to see some professional research into it, but I’m also interested in more anecdotes. Do you think you got into computers around the same time as your peers? Earlier or later? I’d also like to hear from anyone else if they wanna chime in 🤔.
I struggle with it, mostly because I get frustrated how much faster I can type compared to handwriting things. I haven’t hand written things since I left school.
I enjoy writing by hand, but I do look forward to a good e-ink device (Products like the remarkable have a subscription model and it’s closed hardware and software, which is a big negative to me). Waiting to see how projects like PineNote evolve.
For now I just write on which ever notebook is closest to me. The act of writing is more important than actually storing information somewhere outside of my head.
Honestly I find that making physical hand written notes better cements the ideas in my head. It may be because I’m older so I started with only pen and paper which means that’s how I best think, but for me writing and typing are two different tools and I tend to use both.
My wife is that way. If she’s making lists or planning a project or anything else that she really wants to remember she’ll hand write it. For flow, like writing a short story, she’ll type.
I meanwhile lack the handwriting gene entirely. It’s too slow for me and I lose my thought before I’ve had the chance to put it to paper.
Everyone is different! I like to think of them as different tools, so whatever works best for the job at hand.
For me it’s mostly the ease of it. I’m the type to get very bogged down by (perceived) steps, hurdles, and visual overstimulation. An illustration:
Notebook
- Find pen or pencil
- Find the page you need
- Go
Tablet/Etc
- Is it charged
- Specific pen only
- Keyboard needs pairing
- Is keyboard charged
- It wants to update now, awesome
- Turn it on, see ten unrelated apps --> forget what I’m doing
- App randomly decides it needs internet access
- Probably have to deal with syncing now
- etc etc
- (another ‘me’ problem: I get really hung up on trying to format things digitally, which takes time way from what I’m supposed to be doing)
Now, there are certainly benefits to writing things out digitally, especially when searchability is key. Any important info in any of my booklets that I might need to find later on gets typed up or entered into a spreadsheet where applicable. Not the most efficient way to do things, I suppose. 😅
In general though: I just like being able to look down and see a thing I’ve written, rather than needing to wake up a device, open a program, or otherwise fiddle with a screen, especially while multitasking.
I find that I remember things better if I write something down by hand. I’m more likely to forget if I type it out.
However if speed is a necessity, definitely typed even if I need to re-visit it multiple times. Handwriting is just too slow sometimes.
I worked in database administration for years and currently work in a database admin adjacent role and the only things I type are on the internet, emails, data entry, and official/final documents and documentation. I much prefer handwriting for basically everything else - especially for note taking, typing is too linear and non-visual for the way I like to lay notes out with many sketched arrows, diagrams, etc. I also perceive my data to be much more ephemeral in a digital format unless I’m going through the trouble of making multiple backups which…why would I when I can just achieve the same thing with a pen and notebook that I just have to be physically careful with and know the material limitations of. I especially don’t trust whatever note-taking apps du jour to have long-lasting reliable data retention, I mostly just use my phones note taking app for the occasional on the go grocery list.
To be fair though I’m for one one of the kinds of IT people whose knowledge of the field makes me less trustful rather than more trustful of anything that’s, to me, technologically overengineered; and I also am already on the computer all the time for my job, so much prefer to be off of it as much as possible during my free time.
My hands and wrists hurt pretty much all the time, so typing is WAY better. Plus, you can’t read my handwriting at all, so better for everyone.
I type for a living (developer) and I find that I can type WAY faster than I can write. So that is how I prefer to communicate with people and interact with most things during my day. However, when I am on a meeting or a call, I just cannot multitask well enough to capture key details on a computer. I have no idea what my disconnect with that is, but I’ve given up on trying to type notes and memos while I’m on a call and invested in a fountain pen and a good pad of paper. I will mention that I do really enjoy the feel of a really good pen on paper and maybe that type of feedback is what lets my brain take handwritten notes better.
I use physical hand writing for two things,
- When I get stressed and have to remember too many things (like I lose sleep because I can’t stop thinking about it) I will carry a tiny journal in my pocket and write stuff in it I need to remember and cross it out when it is done. The less strict the rules of it the better. It is far from “bullet journaling”.
- If I need to take names while doing something else. Physical paper and pencil is better for whatever reason. Be it a video game, DND, anything. It’s just easier to start and stop quick with a pencil on paper than it is on something physical.
If I need to take names while doing something else. Physical paper and pencil is better for whatever reason. Be it a video game, DND, anything. It’s just easier to start and stop quick with a pencil on paper than it is on something physical.
Ooh this is a REALLY good idea actually. I’m absolutely horrible at remembering names.
I do handwritten notes for anything fast paced where I also have to respond in real time, because handwriting is a less mentally demanding task for me to explain or capture a concept than typing. I can star, I can draw, I can make up any word I want without squiggly lines, lists are instantaneous. I do design work, and noting a design change through typing is a nightmare when I can just squiggle the layout and put an arrow, cross out, annotate, whatever. I also find I remember handwritten notes better. The notes are a incoherent, illegible, squiggly mess, and I usually know exactly what they mean at a glance.
I actually have a reMarkable and love it. I don’t really use the notes to text or cloud functionality often, but the few times I have, it’s been really helpful. I like it better than a notebook because I don’t feel like I’m wasting paper, so I take notes a bit more freely as a result. It’s also helpful in situations where it’s impractical for me to use a keyboard. For example, I teach, and when I’m grading a presentation or explaining a concept to a student who already has their own laptop in front of them, I don’t want to muck with trying to make sure they can see my screen and it’s the proper size when it’s faster for me to sketch out the concept.
I’m also trying to learn Japanese, and having a way to freely practice writing as many times as I need to without having to print over and over again is really useful.
That said, I can’t think of a reason I would ever write anything with actual grammar or sentence structure involved longform. If it’s just me and the computer, no other interruptions and I can focus on my inner voice, typing is much faster and more natural. I’m able to type closer to the speed I can think than I can write, but that’s because I’m used to typing like I think - in full sentences. Trying to type shorthand is like sludge for me the same way trying to write longhand is like sludge. I use both because they serve different purposes for me :)
I hate writing by hand, even though I went all the way through high school doing it (only things like final essays were typed, and even then you had to do it at home). It always hurt to do it the way I was supposed to, my handwriting never improved after like 1st grade (until I taught myself to write left-handed in my early 20’s; that’s much neater), and I have a horrible sensory issue involving the feel of a dull pencil dragging across paper. It makes me want to jump out a goddamned window.
Even so, writing things by hand helps me remember stuff better. Once I got to college and I was allowed to use whatever writing implement I wanted to take notes with (sparkly gel pens in a variety of colors), it wasn’t so awful, and it helped my memory so much that I don’t think I ever had to look at the notes I took ever again. So if I’m going to a lecture or a conference or something, I’ll still bring a notebook and some fancy gel pens.
Otherwise, the only thing I do with hand-writing is quick notes when I’m talking on the phone and need to record an account number or e-mail or whatever, or when I need to create a reminder to go back and fix something I’m already ahead of at work. Post-it notes are so much quicker than taking the phone away from my ear, navigating to OneNote, selecting the notebook, selecting “new page”, and then typing it out. If I want to transcribe the information in some way that’s not strictly left-aligned, or if I want to draw circles/boxes/arrows, well, One Note says “too bad, suck it up”. Plus, I can stick the post-it to my monitor and it’s in my line of sight all day; shit I note down in the phone is out-of-sight, out-of-mind.
Yes, I know I can use the desktop version of OneNote, which has more functionality. I do use it when I’m outlining or making adventure notes for the D&D game I run; it’s fabulous for that. But it’s utter shit for quickly jotting down “call Denise at [number] <— IMPORTANT DO BEFORE ----> call Electric Company about acct [#] at [number]”. That example doesn’t even make sense typed out.
