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This year I started keeping a shitty little notebook I don't care about losing or damaging in my pocket with a cheap fountain pen. I use it whenever the need or desire takes me, which might be every day for a week, or not at all for a month. I use it to stabilize tables sometimes, or just to flip through if I want to do something with my hands. I've used to to keep score in boardgames, or to write down my thoughts and feelings. I really love it.

I'm a software engineer of about 8 years and I think the longer time goes on the more I want to be disconnected from a screen in my free time. I love coding and gaming and scrolling Kbin on my phone, but sometimes it's so nice to just put all that down, take a walk, and write stuff on real paper. Doesn't need to be anything more than that. Not for me, anyways

I journal and take notes regularly by hand and have written novel-length manuscripts in the last couple of years by hand. I prefer using fountain pens or else my hand cramps up (and using anything else for that amount of writing can get a bit wasteful). I don't know if it's better for my memory, but I prefer it for other reasons.

My process is to write a first draft by hand to minimize digital distractions. I take my notebook and pen somewhere without internet, and leave my laptop and phone behind. Then, I type it up, and this is a sort of "natural" 2nd draft process, as I obviously make smaller or larger edits as I'm re-reading my own work.

My mom still has notebooks from when she was in high school. Digital amnesia means I don't have any of my high school and college homework anymore. I developed this system because realized I was putting a lot of effort into managing digital backups of all of my drafts and shit when simple folders and stacks of paper would do fine. But really, I mostly do it because I have ADHD, and using computers to write longform drafts is difficult because they are highly distracting devices. Typewriters and notebooks that only do one thing make things more straightforward for me. So, I get why most people don't approach things this way in 2023.

On one hand (heh) there's apparently evidence to suggest that handwriting activates parts of the brain which aren't typically activated by just typing something out.

I agree, parts of my brain do get activated. The parts where I am annoyed and aggravated by how slow and ugly my handwriting is XD

While I still hold a great appreciation for writing with pen and paper, I find I rarely ever do so anymore. I used to always carry a notepad and pen for writing self reminders, notes, or whatever came to mind. Writing by hand most definitely helps me to remember the content.

As time went on though, after numerous different schools putting me in typing classes (due to telling counselors my interest in computers, moving schools yearly, and a lack of CS curriculum), typing became the quickest means of writing for me.

I have taken to using a middle ground of sorts in that I use a stylus with my Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 for my note taking. It still helps me somewhat to better remember the contents, and the unfolded dimensions (5.04 x 6.23 in.) are not dissimilar to using a small notepad.

So, I really hate taking a laptop into meeting rooms so unless I know I'll have to share my screen I (used to) take an A4 sized paper notebook and a pen to jot down notes.

Recently I upgraded to a ReMarkable 2 which, while certainly not inexpensive, has so been worth it for me.

I do type pretty efficiently on one of my mechanical keyboards, but putting my thoughts into handwriting is a different experience entirely and I always want to retain this option especially for personal one-on-ones.

I think its nice to handwrite things in some contexts. For notes i need to be searchable or to find again easily, I usually type them out in Obsidian. It's nice and organized and can link stuff together.

But for like, more emotional stuff or like, trying to organize my brain, its nicer to handwrite things. It feels more... permanent in a way? Like I've made this tangible thing, rather than just stored bits on a piece of silicon. I tend to remember handwritten stuff slightly better than digital stuff. There's something nice about writing out your problems in a notebook, closing it, and then just never really going over them again.

I will second the bit about fountain pens helping with hand cramps/writing fatigue and being less wasteful than other writing methods. Same with the advent of e-ink screens helping with the often cited example of digitized info contributing to eye strain.

I know this is a personal issue of mine, but all the benefits of physical notebooks are cancelled out by the fact that they are more likely to get lost. I've actually had co-workers steal lined paper, binders and notebooks off my desk at work. It was a huge hassle so I'm back to all digital now.

I’ve read that writing by hand helps commit things to memory better (not sure if that’s true or not). My wife and I will write each other cards by hand for holidays, and it’s very apparent to me how much I’ve learned to rely on auto correct for many things at this point. I’ve noticed how much less my brain is working when I am just texting. As others noted it’s also useful in certain fields to carry a notebook around for meetings or events rather than relying on a phone or a laptop. I’ve also noticed the longer I go without writing, the worse my penmanship gets.

It's simply untenable if I expect anyone else to read it. When I was in school I even had a 504 plan to avoid handwriting assignments and used an alphasmart for a while.

https://youtu.be/u6qxixgQJ4M?t=12

I like writing things by hand. I don't do it because of the supposed brain activation, but I genuinely like the feeling of writing. That's most of it, honestly.

On a more practical note, I find that I'd rather have more organized information in electronic format, but writing by hand is much simpler for quick notes - so I'll usually jot down stuff I need to last a few days, meeting notes and such, and I might type those things out in a tidier manner if I feel like the information warrants it, if it's something I might need to come back to in a few months or years.

While yes, I technically do type faster than I write by hand, when I'm taking notes of something, I usually mix sentences with quick sketches and diagrams - and I can do that much faster by hand than using some sketching software.

For me it's mostly the ease of it. I'm the type to get very bogged down by (perceived) steps, hurdles, and visual overstimulation. An illustration:

Notebook

• Find pen or pencil
• Find the page you need
• Go

Tablet/Etc

• Is it charged
• Specific pen only
• Keyboard needs pairing
• Is keyboard charged
• It wants to update now, awesome
• Turn it on, see ten unrelated apps --> forget what I'm doing
• App randomly decides it needs internet access
• Probably have to deal with syncing now
• etc etc
• (another 'me' problem: I get really hung up on trying to format things digitally, which takes time way from what I'm supposed to be doing)

Now, there are certainly benefits to writing things out digitally, especially when searchability is key. Any important info in any of my booklets that I might need to find later on gets typed up or entered into a spreadsheet where applicable. Not the most efficient way to do things, I suppose. 😅

In general though: I just like being able to look down and see a thing I've written, rather than needing to wake up a device, open a program, or otherwise fiddle with a screen, especially while multitasking.

I just like it. Writing with a fountain pen is much more HANDS ON than writing something down on a phone or (bad) laptop keyboards. Especially if your pen is higher quality. Although a nice mechanical keyboard can be quite nice (I like tactiles a lot).

The practical thing also is: If you keep your notes well organized, it can actually be much more accessible. I dunno, I have spent my entire life with PCs, but they feel "cluttered" so quickly and require so many revisions of organisation.

Having both is useful though, so I keep physical versions and scan them later to also have them digitally available AND not having to use those evil, evil printers who want me to buy more ink...

I'm learning another language, and writing by hand feels like the fastest way things get remembered in my mind. It makes the learning more...visceral, I am more engaged in things that happen instead of an audience passively absorbing and experiencing. And i think that that translates to other experiences because i love handwriting, i love the act of putting words onto paper and other medium.

Someone who engages the world another way - when your information is tied to the flow of characters instead of shaping the characters themselves, of course sees it differently. A visual artist who rarely types and puts down thought in sketches instead of words - will struggle to type their vision too when they would rather put down a series of images and just a minimum of words .

I loved writing on actual paper when I was younger. I miss it but the truth is that its simply inconvenient when we all have auto syncing smartphones and pcs with ability to edit and copy paste and all of that.

I only bring out paper when I need to visualize something complex and it's usually a mess by the time I'm done, and indecipherable by the next week.

As a lefty, handwriting can go away. I am 10x faster as a typer than I am a handwriter, and I do not welcome the hand cramp pains I remember from my school days of writing essays and furious notes, trying to keep up. As a millennial, most of my grade through high school was done on paper, and I despised it entirely.

About the only thing I enjoy about handwriting is drawing quick diagrams, which is something I just don't seem to ever find flexible enough in any piece of software. I've tried absolutely every single diagramming tool, and they either are too cumbersome, or too limited, to meet all my needs.

Definitely typing but whenever I have to take notes for a class I need to hand write it since typing equations is awful in comparison

I like doing math problems written out by hand, it's just much nicer to have the freedom to make whatever marks you want and put things wherever you want/need, I really see the appeal in that regard. I could get good at using some of the math typing tools out there but they just don't allow the same kind of flow.

Otherwise, it really just makes my hand hurt and being left handed adds an extra level of inconvenience to it.

I prefer to journal by hand, mainly because journaling on the computer feels unnatural somehow. But I can't write more than 1-2 pages before my hand cramps up.