Taking notes by hand

[mtnbiker62]

Interesting story about why we should keep taking hand-written notes instead of using a computer:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/04/28/why-students-using-laptops-learn-less-in-class-even-when-they-really-are-taking-notes/

[LagNut]

Falls in line with my experience. I will take notes if I care about absorbing the content of s meeting. I generally don't have to go back to them, unless it's been a while.

[dragonfly7]

There's just something about the motor pathways involved in forming written words and parts of the brain that develop thoughts. Keep on writing, kids!

[Tracy Lee]

I take notes in all my meetings every day. At the end of the year I scan the pages to keep them for reference. I refer back a lot because I am juggling so many projects it can be hard to keep it all straight. I use multiple colors of ink and different nib sizes constantly to help find things at a glance. May not work for everyone but I have a groove and I would be lost without my pens and notes. I hand edit documents before doing it on the computer for my clients and at least one client takes my handwritten notes and doesn't want my computer edits.

[Silverbreeze]

I am in IT Tracy and I still use bound books for notes from meetings, work journaling and How did I do that again? Type entries

[Newjelan]

I take all my meeting notes by hand and do all my preparation work by hand. Everything is in the one notebook (currently B5 with dots but this changes with each notebook. Eg the previous one was A5 Seven Seas Writer). I keep the books for 2 1/2 to 3 years and then shred them.

[D.C. Wright]

There is another recap of this research in the current Pen World magazine, providing more information about the structure used in these studies to reduce the effect of compromising variables. Pretty convincing stuff.

[velo]

I bought my first fountain pen, a Lamy Al-Star that I still own, because of the amount of writing I had to do at Uni. Having to write so quickly to keep up, my notes looked pretty terrible when using biros and the like. That fountain pen really played a huge role in helping me to retain neat and legible notes for later study. It was the genesis of this fountain pen habit.

To this day all my notes are written. I've tried countless note taking apps on my phone and laptop but nothing compares to a fountain pen and paper. I find my thought processes, concentration and retention of ideas and information superior when I do this.

[Brisboy]

As well as forcing me to synthesize concepts and regurgitate them more succinctly in my notes, taking notes by hand, and writing/composing by hand has improved my memory. When typing I can get a sentence down almost as fast as I'm thinking it, but when writing by hand it's more a process of thinking about the whole sentence, then having to remember that for the entire time it takes me to write that sentence (which can be a while depending on how legibly I'm trying to write). I love it! Has been really good for my memory and concentration.