With so much note taking apps nowadays, I can’t understand why does anyone still write notes with pen and paper. You need to bring the notepad, book or that paper to retrieve that information, and most of the time you don’t have it in hand. While my phone almost always reachable and you carry when you go out. For those still like to do handwriting, there’s many app does that and they can even convert it to text notes.
So, if you still write notes with pen and paper, why?
I remember it better when I write it out. Typing doesn’t do the same.
The reason is often that writing forces you to already process and abstract the information. Especially if you are taking notes real-time like in a lecture. You will naturally want to shorten the info to write less so you have to process and understand what is the important info, you have to take the info in context of previous knowledge etc. Typing is often much more mechanical, you just need to process the info as it is coming in and transform it into mechanical keypress.
I also remember something about handwriting processing being a nuanced and very separate process from typing, although I am not certain on this. There was also some stuff about reading your handwritten notes triggering memories better than typed notes.
Til, thanks!
For anything I’ll need to share or search, digital.
But for everything else, I remember it better if I commit handwriting to it, and I use fountain pens, it’s a nicer experience.
Your explanation make sense
Another option for consideration is a tablet with a pencil stylus and palm rejection (personally, iPad works great for me). It doesn’t feel as nice as pen and paper ofc, but it strikes a nice middle ground since notes are highly editable, organisable and digitally stored. OneNote, as much as I despise Microsoft is really good for this.
There are also options for handwriting to digital transformation though you basically have to use english and have good handwriting that the algorithm can understand otherwise you will end up having to edit a lot.
I like to have a small pocketbook for important notes I want on hand and quickly (basically personal pocket guidelines in my case for the ED and a separate one for EMS), but I prefer taking lecture and study notes on my iPad in handwriting. Although I am slowly trying to create a digital version of my notes in a personal wikipedia style using Obsidian.
Also, not writing with a fountain pen is a disservice to yourself if you handwrite a lot.
For me it’s other way around. If I have to write I only focus on writing itself, and not the content. This also often causes me to accidentally repeat words, mix up letters, erase it, repeatedly end up writing the wrong letter because I need to speed up, then I have to leave out a section because I already forgot what I wanted to write.
And in the end I still can’t decipher quarter of my handwriting.
