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?
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a notebook and pencil in my shirt pocket are faster to open than a phone app
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handwriting is faster than thumb typing
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I can sketch an electrical diagram on paper way faster than anyone can with a stylus on some janky phone screen.
3.1) Even if there was a stylus/screen combination with the same haptics, fidelity, and input recognition speed as pencil on paper, it wouldn’t be 0.78€
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I can toss the notebook and diagrams to anyone working on a project with me with zero worry that they’ll drop it, forget it, or look around in the rest of it
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I can tear out a page and hand it to anyone instantly, instead of finding out what messaging app we have in common, copying (or screenshotting) the note and pasting it in an app
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I can insert a note into a physical book, stick it to the inside of a toolbox lid, a wall next to an electrical junction, inside a breaker box, or any other surface, and always have location-aware reminders waiting for me when I need them.
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With minimal environmental control, my notes are effectively immortal. I have notebooks of measurements and diagrams of most rooms, wall cavities, pipe runs, electrical runs, cable pulls, and dimensions of various equipment that have outlasted hard drives, backup tapes, and a few cloud storage companies.
This guy notebooks.
This is the correct answer. I don’t take many notes personally myself, but your comment made me think I really should carry around a small notebook in my pocket.
And your notes don’t suddenly increase the price of your storage.
Uh, except for buying more notebooks and writing utensils, which, if your text files are large enough to suddenly increase the price of storage (or even need to pay for text storage), you’re going to need a whole lot of.
No, it’s more of a subtle, inflationary pressure.
For me, it’s the act of writing, the memory it helps solidify, and… being an FP nerd.
Can I take notes on a phone? Sure, but I wouldn’t use a personal device for work notes, ever. Between my privacy, customer privacy laws, and separation of concerns. I’ve no compunctions at all, though, about sharing an A5 notebook between journal, work notes, personal notes, and reminders.
Digital text notes take up practically no storage space. You’ll spend more on new notebooks to write in over a year than digital storage space for the exact same content
Also, notes taken with pen and paper never run out of battery, or need to be charged. They’re powered by basically any light source.
On the flip side, they don’t come up in a mass search. I have so many notes. If it doesn’t come up in a search it mine as well not exist, I’ll never find it.
This. Plus as a subjective thing: I personally remember stuff more easily when I write them down compared to typing. Also my written notes mix bullet points, regular writing, arrows and connections, without having to “switch mode” or install plugins.
I still use note-taking apps, sometimes as primary, sometimes as secondary tool.
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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 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.
my notepad/book/paper doesn’t run out of battery and doesn’t lose reception …
EDIT: and my book will last longer than your cloud service
EDIT: and you remember stuff better by writing it down
My handwriting is the perfect encryption. Nobody else can understand it. Lol.
@nutbutter The algorithm is especially harder to decrypt if you don’t write that often. I can tell it from my personal experience, lol.
At work I do that exclusively. It’s faster to make punch lists for jobsites that way
Same, so much quicker to make handwritten notes at work. I also just want to give my hands and eyes a break from using my phone.
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.
Equations are a shitload faster to write: this is the main reason.
No fucking spell correction.
Every piece of writing is visually unique and looking back at handwritten notes brings back an additional layer of memory (diaries/personal journals eg).
Paper notes can be permanently destroyed with a high level of confidence and low cost if desired.
Written notes can be easily left for/handed to another person (for flirtatious purposes e.g.), or placed semi-permanently in a useful spot.
Electronic notes are great too, I keep my grocery list and whatnot on my phone, but the reasons above are why I also write things by hand.
Scientifically speaking, writing with your hand helps a lot with memory and learning, while typing does not have nearly the same effect. Also, a lot of handwriting apps are still garbage. It’s also nice for focusing to not be using a cell phone. Other than that, some people probably just like it
Writing with a pen is still more intuitive for me than typing, so I automatically grab a piece of paper and jot it down. Especially while talking to someone.
But I do use note taking apps a lot for more permanent things.
Yes, typed notes don’t stick as well as written ones
Yes. It’s faster and it doesn’t end up getting lost on my phone or PC somewhere. I can also leave a page open on my desk if it’s something I tend to forget (currently German prepositions).
Pen and paper don’t need batteries. I’m pretty sure I can whip out my notepad faster than you can unlock your phone and open the notes widget.
Pens need ink. Notepads need empty pages.
How often are you buying ink for your pen? Just buy a notepad? Regardless, both are cheap.
Is it your cakeday?
Much harder to get distracted with a pen and paper. Main reason I use it.
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.
