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Ask HN: Why the obsession with note taking?

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Re: Ask HN: Why the obsession with note taking?

#131

Post by dotancohen »

I'd say that the only reason that we have so many posts on the topic is because org-mode has a learning curve ))

We all recognize the importance of learning from experience, and we all recognize that we cannot reliably remember everything important. So the question becomes - where to store it.

Then the question becomes how to organize it. Do we optimize for quick writes or quickly finding things? Do we optimize for space? Is appearance important? Syncing to mobile devices? Reminders? Right-to-Left writing support? Must the data be in plain text files? Must there be multiple implementations of the technology? Does it run on Linux / Windows / Mac? Does it leak private information? Can I recover it? Does it support embedded images / video / audio / flowcharts / etc.

Etc etc etc

Re: Ask HN: Why the obsession with note taking?

#132

Post by Joeri »

pdinny wrote: post #77

A related question for note-takers: what would you estimate as your rate of reference to prior notes? For my own part that rate is so dismally low that right now I get more value out of making notes than retrieving and reading notes. I'm reminded of a response to another thread on HN a few weeks back about organizing physical documents. Many commenters had very sophisticated processes with scanning, OCR, indexing etc…

My memory is not good enough to go by what I can recall, so by necessity I live in my notes.

For me the notes are my long term memory and all I have to actually remember is what I’m currently working on. They are organized for easy retrieval (hierarchical, topical and searchable), and I do regular refactoring on my notes to improve retrievability and archive outdated material.

Re: Ask HN: Why the obsession with note taking?

#133

Post by ewuhic »

Side question, I believe, there was some startup in the early 2000 or maybe in the dotcom bubble era, they were selling "brain-enhancing tools" which were akin to MS Clippy Office Assitant + marketing sauce on top. And iirc they got to an insane market cap and then it all popped.

Could anyone remind of the name?

Re: Ask HN: Why the obsession with note taking?

#134

Post by city17 »

I think it's mostly procrastination. Spending time on tools and methods means avoiding doing any actual work. For 99% of cases, just writing down a few points with pen and paper will do the job. Most of the value of note taking comes from writing it down anyway (which helps memorize it), not actually reading the notes at a later point in time.

Re: Ask HN: Why the obsession with note taking?

#135

Post by ImportOllie »

How to Take Smart Notes by Sönke Ahrens also gets touched upon in the HN discourse on Note taking apps.

One of the salient points made in the book is the idea that externalising thought is:

1. Helps us with our internal thinking 2. Is difficult to do

Personally as a user of Obsidian, i'm here for it. I want to take notes, they help me in numerous ways and i'm interested in the structure and approach in which I take notes.

I'd draw a parallel between note taking systems and efficiency systems in the workplace. It's good to apportion sometime to getting better at stuff and I feel often there's a discourse on what the proportion should be.

Re: Ask HN: Why the obsession with note taking?

#137

Post by ramblerman »

ollysb wrote: post #75

It isn't about note taking, it's about supporting a brain that simply isn't capable of retaining the level of information that we have to deal with. The ultimate note taking device is actually an augmented human brain that has perfect recollection and organisation. In the mean time the note taking apps help with: Working memory - a page can hold far more information than I can retain in my working memory. Having a bu…

This is the 'official' explanation, and definitely true.

But most of it is selling that next productivity upgrade that we communally all seem to obsess over here. People sharing their note graphs is the same as the guy on youtube with a sixpack promising a new and revolutionary 5 minute ab routine.

And while the 5 minute ab routine certainly won't harm you, that body was built from months of discipline and required a full fitness routine, as well as careful calorie counting.

Just like actual productive note taking and creative thinking is about spending time with your notes every day, and not the software.

Re: Ask HN: Why the obsession with note taking?

#138

Post by coldtea »

kkoncevicius wrote: post #28

My take - note taking is a symtom of ADHD. The fact these topics are popular on HN suggests there are quite a lot of ADHD people here. The counter intuitive thing is that these apps are thought of as something that helps with attention disorders. But wanting to "organize life", "track thoughts and ideas", "never forget what you learned", etc, are symptoms, not cures.

>But wanting to "organize life", "track thoughts and ideas", "never forget what you learned", etc, are symptoms, not cures.

It's the inverse.

Note-taking might be a symptom of OCD or autism disorders (that can make people compulsively take notes or enjoying collecting information in itself), but they are cures (or, rather, coping strategies) for ADHD.

ADHD is not manifested as "tendency to take notes" for note-taking to be a symptom.

It's manifested as tendency to be disorganized, to have trouble tracking thoughts, forgetting, etc - which makes note-taking a way to manage symptoms.

It's looks like you fell for the "correlation equals causation" fallacy, not in a study, but in a simple real life observation that should have been trivial to see the right casual direction!

Re: Ask HN: Why the obsession with note taking?

#139

Post by bitwize »

Because if you want to learn Rust, make money on the blockchain, or engineer optimal colonies of bacteria in your gut, it helps to write down and keep track of all the complicated stuff you learn.

Seriously though, I think Hackernews is making up for all the notes they didn't take in college as they expected to breeze through on smarts alone.

Re: Ask HN: Why the obsession with note taking?

#140

Post by unfocussed_mike »

kkoncevicius wrote: post #28

My take - note taking is a symtom of ADHD. The fact these topics are popular on HN suggests there are quite a lot of ADHD people here. The counter intuitive thing is that these apps are thought of as something that helps with attention disorders. But wanting to "organize life", "track thoughts and ideas", "never forget what you learned", etc, are symptoms, not cures.

For me, note-taking is:

1) a symptom of being a freelancer with multiple clients who revisits projects sometimes a decade after doing them. It is the only way to proceed -- even if you were to assert that persistent "documentation" of a project is distinct from "notes" about it, those notes are still essential.

2) a route towards making that documentation; it's easier to assemble documentation from things you've noted than to start with a blank page.

3) a way to know, deeply, what it is I actually think about something. Not just what I think right now in that moment, but why. What facts I took into account; what facts I disregarded, why I disregarded them, and why I might need to revisit that next time.

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