Why you Should Handwrite your Notes

In a digital environment, it is easy to go faster. In the age of AI, things go even faster. But that speed does you no good if you don’t know what you are doing, because you end up copying and pasting the information. You don’t know what you just said, and you will forget it in a few hours. I think people should write more and practice. According to Science Daily, workers were 25% faster on paper than on an electronic device (“Study Shows Stronger Brain Activity”). The article says that a notebook is not uniform in pen strokes, has limited space, and is a physical item to keep track of. Digital notes are infinite in spacing and easily closed, so when you close the app, it is out of sight, out of mind. This reminds me of a quote that I once heard: “ To go faster, you first need to slow down,” which means to step back and look at it objectively, but with the digital tool, you don’t step back and see it differently. I know the convenience of the available digital tools, and you have them anywhere via the cloud. A notebook is not easily searchable, and they are bulky to carry, especially if you go bigger than an A5-size notebook. In contrast, a notebook enables faster deep understanding than a digital app.

There are YouTube channels that are dedicated to notebooks and writing by hand, like Parknote, which give you good explanations and reasons to use a notebook. Some say writing in a notebook is a life changer because writing by hand triggers more of the brain and increases memory (Storey), compared to a human who can type around 40 words per minute, so a typist is just transcribing their thoughts, and not thinking deeply, if at all. "A typist often does not step back and view their writing objectively. So you do not see it in a different context. 

It is why writers read out loud, then read it in their heads, because the brain will add and/or improve with their reading. I mention the speed benefits of digital, but handwriting is fast too, in its own way. You can think more clearly. While it is slower, it is less distracting. I know from experience that I pull out my phone to do something, and then get distracted by the notifications in the past. I always carried an idea journal because my ideas are around tech and sci-fi, so I would draw in it where I can’t easily do it with digital. When you open a specific notebook, you are locked into it during your work. By doing that, why should you handwrite your notes? You are getting the work done faster, and famous people use notebooks called commonplace books, where they capture their thoughts, similar to the ideas that come to you in the shower. Some people like Leonardo da Vinci, John Lennon, and Taylor Swift use their commonplace books for that exact reason. So they can implement their ideas and quotes back into their art.

I have talked about writing and the benefits of handwriting, but there is a form of handwriting that is faster than printing and makes both sides of the brain work, and that is cursive. For a neurotypical person, who has decent handwriting and no speed problems, writing in print is fine, but for a neurodivergent person, like one with dyslexia, writing in cursive helps them out big time. It helps them pick up words faster and will help them write words, triggering the drawing part of the brain. Since they have a hard time picking up words, their handwriting is often unreadable, so writing in cursive gives them more control and the image of the word to put with the sound of the word. And for the speed of it, when you get good at cursive, you become faster because you don’t leave the pen on the paper as much, so you are not wasting time on unnecessary motion.

 While one can get an iPad with one of their pencils and write on it, the iPad will also have text messages and notifications that will make it distracting, and it might not be exactly known as a tool for learning. I do use an iPad for notes without the notification apps to make it distraction-free.

 A system called Building a Second Brain from Tiago Forte is where note apps are used, and it has a lot of benefits, as it is more portable and can store everything from health notes to movie quotes. So notes are put into long-term memory and easily recalled by searching them up. A notebook doesn’t have the portability and is not searchable like an app is, and the user doesn’t have to worry about the paper running out or spelling at all. People have paired it with the Zettelkasten system for idea generation. The ability to link articles and book highlights from Kindle and other places is handy for keeping the information together.

In my ideal world and system, I will use a notebook and write down my thoughts and ideals, then have it scanned afterward to put them into digital form, so I can search and keep it safe for any event that can come up that is similar to a different project. With AI that can look over my notes and search for a specific topic that I have looked up in the past. By doing it that way, it can work hand in hand with each other, having both. To learn on paper and get the memory of it, but afterward to have it in the cloud for backup and archiving, and the space-saving of digital.