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Writing by hand is still the best way to retain information

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Re: Writing by hand is still the best way to retain information

#211

Post by Wistar »

syntheweave wrote: post #207
koolba wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed. It’s pretty hard to be $.25 store brand spiral notepads for cost per page.

Cheap filler note paper is a source of difficulty when writing(ball pens will skip, dark inks will bleed, scratchy pencils and nibs will tear). The index cards work, but I would also go for the slightly more expensive paper brands one can find on JetPens. If you're going for a stationary experience, investing a little more in it goes a long way.

I like use a 5.5 x 8.5 or 9 x 12 Strathmore 300 Sketch tablet for notes. They are sturdy and the paper is quite good. They are a pain if you want to scan/copy them as the paper is either smaller or larger than standard letter size.

https://www.strathmoreartist.com/draw-sketch/id-300-series-s...

Re: Writing by hand is still the best way to retain information

#213

Post by tiagod »

chefandy wrote: post #197

If you're in charge of other people, it's worth noting that some very common cognitive problems like ADHD, Dysgraphia, and Dyslexia negate these benefits in some affected people. The cognitive load of making legible marks can become high enough to become the focus, rather than the actual content. Pressuring someone already struggling with working memory to do things like this, is counterproductive, if not demoralizin…

I have ADHD, which affects my short-term memory a lot, and my most valuable tool while working is a notebook and a pencil. I rarely look at the previous pages, and they invariably end full of scribbles, but it helps me a lot to keep my current goals in the current page and looking at it while thinking. Once it gets too messy I turn to the next blank page and copy whatever part of the text/diagrams that's still relevant.

Re: Writing by hand is still the best way to retain information

#214

Post by xrd »

Does it need to be stated that moving all interactions to Zoom means that writing by hand gets much more difficult?

Why? Maintaining eye contact and connection is so much harder when there isn't a shared physical space. If you take notes by hand, you are disconnecting from what little shared connection you have in a small video box on screen.

You could take notes using the keyboard but the keyboard is right next to the microphone. Though we have technology to reduce the noise it's going to impact your concentration and focus in the meeting at the very least and everyone else's concentration at the very worst.

Re: Writing by hand is still the best way to retain information

#215

Post by dchuk »

hanoz wrote: post #199
dchuk wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I came to the same conclusion, however, here’s how I handle that: I carry around a folder with just a bunch of printer paper, and some index cards in it. I write my todo lists on an index card because it’s intentionally small so I can’t overload it, and it feels good to cross out the last thing and just throw it away. I take notes through the day on the printer paper, and then I review them frequently and type up wha…

What sort of folder do you use? Is it something you can lean on when writing?

That's actually the only real downside to this system currently, I'm just using a cheap flimsy folder that can't really be used to write on without being on a surface itself. I'd like something a bit more firm, but that isn't big and bulky. Still on the hunt.

Re: Writing by hand is still the best way to retain information

#216

Post by dchuk »

CSSer wrote: post #198
dchuk wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I came to the same conclusion, however, here’s how I handle that: I carry around a folder with just a bunch of printer paper, and some index cards in it. I write my todo lists on an index card because it’s intentionally small so I can’t overload it, and it feels good to cross out the last thing and just throw it away. I take notes through the day on the printer paper, and then I review them frequently and type up wha…

Have you considered buying loose leaf notebook paper instead of printer paper? You get lines and I’d imagine it’s even cheaper.

I actually distinctly prefer not having lines on my paper, because my notes are typically big outlines and drawings and diagrams.

I am planning on coming up with a few different paper templates that I can easily print when I need it (I have a cheap $100 brother laser b&w printer that works perfectly and cheaply for this purpose).

Re: Writing by hand is still the best way to retain information

#217

Post by smeej »

vasco wrote: post #101
headbee wrote: post #4

I can attest to this and took all of my notes on paper in college. However, once I started a real job I realized that this strategy doesn't scale to all situations. In college, I needed to be able to recall all of the information I had ingested: it was low-write, high-read. In the workplace, there's much more information, but I'm unlikely to need most of it: it's high-write, low-read. I need to be able to reference t…

I still do it and it has worked for me from being an individual contributor, to leading a team, to leading a part of the org that has a tree of ~50 people across multiple contexts. The way I see it, if you know the best way to retain information, why would you stop using it. I note down almost everything during meetings, 1-1s, agile rituals, etc. Very rarely I move things to a computer, most things I just need to wri…

> if you know the best way to retain information, why would you stop using it.

Because I can type something like 10x as fast as I can write by hand (I'm both extremely fast at typing and fairly slow at writing), but the recall benefit is not 10x.

I can recall anything I hear or see well enough that I'm not looking at double-digit multiples of effectiveness for any method over nothing, much less between methods.

The sheer volume of things I can take down typing with 9 fingers on a keyboard vs. writing with one pen outweighs any day-to-day advantage of how much better I would be able to recall the few things I would have the time to write down.

Re: Writing by hand is still the best way to retain information

#218

Post by brailsafe »

chefandy wrote: post #210
brailsafe wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think you can lump those 3 together like that, though you did qualify it. I don't know anything about dysgraphia, but dyslexia is probably the standout thing in that list that make writing very stressful. With ADHD, I've always struggled with consistency and memory, and what's been helping for a few months is to start my day by writing it out in detail, so I'm forced to work out the kinks.

I wasn't qualifying categorizing these things, I just gave a list of things that can cause difficulty writing among some who have them. Dysgraphia is a writing-specific neurological disorder.

I meant that you qualified it with "some" which is probably true, but I guess on the ADHD side, there are so many other management issues that would supercede this and be much more impactful. For example, my formerly laidback team lead used to give me the agency to get my work done without much oversight, but now they feel like checking in frequently to get "updates" is a good idea. It's provoking me to procrastinate and avoid being near my keyboard, and will probably push me to look for a new job.

Re: Writing by hand is still the best way to retain information

#219

Post by WalterBright »

chongli wrote: post #170
WalterBright wrote: post #82

Yup. The way to attend a lecture is to leave your laptop behind. Take a cheap spiral notebook and a couple colored pens. Take notes. Once the notebook is filled (or the semester is over) scan the pages, toss the notebook, and buy a fresh one for the next semester. It works, from much personal experience You're welcome! 1. yes, sometimes I fall behind the lecturer taking notes, which can be a bit frustrating 2. while…

This only works with old-school professors who teach by writing on the blackboard. New-school professors like to bombard you with one-hour, 50-slide Powerpoint presentations where each slide has a full page of text in 12-point font, with a smattering of images and diagrams throughout. Since the prof does not need to take time to write anything down, they have no qualms about showing one of these slides for a total of…

> This only works with old-school professors who teach by writing on the blackboard.

I was lucky to complete college before powerpoint.

Re: Writing by hand is still the best way to retain information

#220

Post by knaik94 »

tiagod wrote: post #213
chefandy wrote: post #197

If you're in charge of other people, it's worth noting that some very common cognitive problems like ADHD, Dysgraphia, and Dyslexia negate these benefits in some affected people. The cognitive load of making legible marks can become high enough to become the focus, rather than the actual content. Pressuring someone already struggling with working memory to do things like this, is counterproductive, if not demoralizin…

I have ADHD, which affects my short-term memory a lot, and my most valuable tool while working is a notebook and a pencil. I rarely look at the previous pages, and they invariably end full of scribbles, but it helps me a lot to keep my current goals in the current page and looking at it while thinking. Once it gets too messy I turn to the next blank page and copy whatever part of the text/diagrams that's still releva…

I struggle similarly with ADHD but found that I prefer typing over writing. The valuable part of note taking is having somewhere external to use as an extra memory cache. With diagrams, I realized that using a digital tool made it easier for me to physically reorganize what I wrote down. I used pencil and paper in the past but my handwriting and organization were so messy that I never felt like revisiting it to extract information.
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