They say that you remember more when handwriting than when typing. I believe that. One thing I have wondered about is what if you write on a tablet and then it digitizes your handwriting. Do you still get the same benefit, from the process of having handwritten it?

I would think that part of the value would be in seeing the information written in your own handwriting, which makes me suspect that having a font like this that you could digitize into might be better than writing by hand (whic probably provides some of the memory boost) and then digitizing into a traditional font.

▲ jkingsman 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

Perhaps the visual aspect is responsible for a bit, but I know that even notes that I never reviewed after the fact but handwrote had more sticking power in my head than when I typed.

Both my partner and I used tablets for notetaking through college and found it at least analogous if not superior to handwritten notes, since it became easier to link topics that you might otherwise need to back-reference on paper that could instead just be a big arrow. Lots more freedom to use arrows, visual linkages, and asides when you weren't constrained by 8.5x11 paper (which maybe allows a bit of that but otherwise forces linearity, more or less).

▲ mockingloris 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> They say that you remember more when handwriting than when typing

I believe that too.

Writing is one of my tools for taming my ADHD tendencies. I have journals of different sizes and when I am in the zone, I capture the moment in my own words and in my own way. I draw lines and art on my notes and just scanning a few lines on another day instantly immerses me back in the moment when the ideas/words/thought hit me.

For those who type better than they write, I don't see any reason to not do that, even though for me, it's pen on paper.

We're all different and I am a strong believer of the idiom that goes "One man's food..."

▲ gxs 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

This is not a humble brag by any means, just sharing my experience

I type 121 wpm and I simply can’t concentrate when writing by hand

It’s too slow and instead of focusing on formulating my thoughts or capturing what’s being said I get super fidgety

Not to mention my handwriting stinks

For me it’s a lot easier to remember when I’m fully immersed and processing ideas vs tediously writing

I do think this is probably just lack of handwriting skill - I definitely learned all this in school and took handwritten notes most of my life, but I suspect I never did it right back then

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rgoulter 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

> It’s too slow and instead of focusing on formulating my thoughts or capturing what’s being said

AFAIU, if you're trying to take notes capturing what was said in a conversation between people.. to some extent you're going to need to focus and summarize anyway.

For handwriting notes for your own work.. I think writing stimulates & catalyses thought.

If you're in the flow, it doesn't make sense to stop and write notes. (Other than maybe so as to dispatch distracting thoughts, to preserve flow, or to enable flow for later).

If you're not flowing.. IME writing notes can help draw out thoughts: identify what it is you're confused or unclear about, what doesn't make sense, or what needs to be prioritised. -- For some reason, I've found pen & paper (especially 4-5 colours) to be more effective than just using a keyboard.

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globular-toast 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Your handwriting skills are due to lack of practice. You weren't born typing at 121wpm.

I prefer typing for anything longer than a few words. But I can't type a picture (despite things like Mermaid and PlantUML) being useful.

I make extensive use of paper (and whiteboards if I'm sharing) for making pictures, mostly graph-like things such as flow diagrams, sequences, ERD etc. I feel somewhat "disabled" if I'm forced to just screen technology to do it (although Excalidraw is pretty good).

	▲	gxs 3 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		I don’t know man, my point was more than I probably don’t lean the actual skill of writing fast, it wasn’t necessary lack of practice All through college I had to write extensively and still never got anywhere near that speed I do wonder about raw limits - unless you learn a specific shorthand, I can’t imagine writing out the word “something” faster than I can type it - unless as an example I used sm instead
	▲	KaiserPro 3 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		> Your handwriting skills are due to lack of practice. I mean thats a broad generalisation. As someone who spent a lot of time in remedial English, I don't think thats actually true. Typing enabled me to go to uni. It turns out that actually I'm shit at handwriting rather than english. Ironically I have a wacom tablet as a pointer device, because its faster than a mouse.

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lostlogin 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> I type 121 wpm

Your comment had me wondering how quick various systems are for writing. Shorthand can apparently get comfortably over 200wpm, but the bit that is I found wild is is how it looks.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shorthand

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dsr_ 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

My handwriting was terrible -- until I took a technical drafting course in school. The two things I got out of it that lasted were readable handwriting and better arrowheads on lines, when I remember to do them properly.

Good news: you don't actually have to take a technical drafting course. You just need to find an architectural lettering guide that you like, and practice for about fifteen minutes a day until it feels normal. (Architectural, not ASME. ASME is too rigorous to become anyone's daily handwriting.)

▲ dotancohen 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

  > One thing I have wondered about is what if you write on a tablet and then it digitizes your handwriting. Do you still get the same benefit, from the process of having handwritten it?

In my experience, you do. I use a Boox E-ink tablet to write on, and I completely concur that just using the stylus to write things commits them to my memory. The things that I've typed, I have to go back and look at.