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.
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.
Because i can scrawl a note faster than opening an app and typing, and i can organise a notebook with a lot less fuss.
I’ll answer with a simple test. Do the following first on your phone and then on a piece of paper:
Design a thing, something physical; a box, a house, a chair, whatever. In addition to the diagram, this note must include a description of the item, the bill of materials, the dimensions and, if applicable, assembly instructions that you could confidently hand to someone else and have them follow. Ideally, you should include the dimensions of the object directly on the sketch itself.
Now give this to someone and see how accurately they can reproduce the item while you go off and make a phone call.
My handwriting is the perfect encryption. Nobody else can understand it. Lol.
I can't rely on a piece of electronics that might run out of battery, bug out, etc. Note taking on paper is much faster, you can draw anything with any sort of layout, it's completely free form. Of course it depends on your needs. I know I sketch down a lot because of my line of work, that may not be the case for everyone.
Because I like small diagrams and schematics. Doing that in an app, especially on a phone, is tricky. And I find that structuring my thoughts on paper just works better than doing it digitally straight away.
Because you remember it better when you actually write it out instead of just using a keyboard. And you can draw diagrams with ease. Most styluses are inaccurate and one dimensional, and buying a phone with actual proper stylus support in both the display and stylus itself is expensive. You could buy a separate technical device just for note taking with proper stylus support and have it upload notes to the cloud so you can access it at all times, but that requires a constant internet connection and mobile data is expensive. And then you have to carry this seperate device with you in the same way you'd carry a much cheaper physical notepad anyways.
My laptop died in June, so I had to write my entire master's thesis in a notebook with a pen. Typing on a phone is terrible for writing more than a few sentences.
Typing on a phone is terrible for writing more than a few sentences.
A bluetooth keyboard might be helpful here.
Yep. My little Field Notes books don’t send me notifications about emails, and I can toss them around without breaking them. And use a lot of notation and drawing methods that are very slow when typing with my thumbs.
A note that's pinned to the wall is harder to overlook and forget.
That being said, my note-taking app is set to start automatically when logging in, so I'm always aware of its existence. Wouldn't work otherwise.
Yes, I do.
I enjoy handwriting and it is much faster for me. I like to have a couple of different coloured pens and have it organised. Usually I just end up with a scribbled mess but that is okay. At least only I can read it. If I need to I will type it up afterwards - I love typing as well.
With so much note taking apps nowadays, I can't understand why someone should waste time to find their smartphone, power it on, input the pin for the sim, unlock the screen, find the right app in the app jungle, open it, find the "new note" option, which is hidden in a sub menu instead of using a short cut on your keyboard to bring up a terminal, which opens Vim and automatically saves the file as a note with the correct file name.
Hell yeah i do, i’ve been keeping a notebook for scheduling and journaling for the last 5 years and it helps my thought process so much.
The biggest thing for me, i dont control the apps, so if an update breaks my apps, i’d be out of luck, but that cant happen with a notebook. My notes will always been as i wrote them.
I’ve even gone through writing with gel pens, to fountain pens, and now i just use pencils cause it’s just better over all.
I could get philosophical about it too. I remember what i write, my mind paces itself better as i commit to paper vs typing on a keyboard or screen. We have that primordial need to scribble on something, and i get to indulge it when i write:
- coffee
- milk
- rice (big bag)
Everyone should try it, with a simple caveat: keep it cheap. Write in cheap books with cheap pens and paper, then buy better as the cheap shit starts to fail on you. Some paper is really bad for ink, some are bad for pencil, somehow there’s some that worse for both. Some pencils have terrible erasers, but dont dwell on those choices.
Unfortunately nobody makes a cheap spiral bound, square ruled notebook. Certainly not one which stands up to 0.5mm pencils well.
I spent the money on the Leuchtturm 1917 notebooks after trying to make moleskines work. I do not regret it, nor the work that brought me there.
I’m left handed so spiral bound is out for the most part
They used to be so good. I think the Sanford people bought them. Cant say how it affected quality tho as I’ve moved to metal barreled mechanical pencils and am in love with the Pentel Kura Toga rn
