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The importance of handwriting is now better understood

economist.com

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Re: The importance of handwriting is now better understood

#111

Post by jamespo »

eviks wrote: post #66
eloisant wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There has been studies that proved that handwriting helps memorizing better than using a computer. The studies took a group of students, randomly assigned them handwriting/computers then they had a test to pass. Handwriting students performed better. The reason is that handwriting is slower, so it forces you to summarize and make decisions in your note taking. Selecting what's important. On the other hand typing is f…

So you only need to slow a person down to achieve the same effect, what's the value of handwriting?

it's slower

Re: The importance of handwriting is now better understood

#112

Post by specialist »

moffkalast wrote: post #67
silcoon wrote: post #17

I've direct experience on the power of handwriting to memorise concepts. When at the UNI, I was studying CS (while working part-time) less than 10 ya, and classes where full of laptops. I was take notes during lectures using only pen and paper and similarly I was taking my notes about the main concepts from the courses books. Then I was re-writing them again in a more summarised way, and then underline this notes and…

I don't really get how moving hands smoothly to write something versus tapping keys poses any large difference in memorization? For the us generations that grew up learning cursive and associating it with school it may be easier to remember that way, but if someone was raised by only typing from an early age it probably makes no difference. We're analog juvenoial dinosaurs living in a digital age we've only partially…

I've long wondered too. "Intention" is the best notion I've come up with.

With typing, I find it easier to enter a flow state. That stream of consciousness where it feels the prose (or code) seems to write itself.

With handwriting, I must visualize what I'm about to write. Plan ahead. Think thru things. This works for lists, writing letters, and even graphic stuff like design diagrams.

I also must really pay attention when I'm taking notes during meetings and lectures. Otherwise, my mind will wander off and I'll miss the whole thing. So I often volunteer to take minutes when I want to fully participate.

PS: Out of respect for u/jncfhnb, I'll add an explicit YMMV.

Re: The importance of handwriting is now better understood

#114

Post by freeplay »

squirrel6 wrote: post #15
hknmtt wrote: post #3

I have started to journal last month. I came to it through pens when I randomly decided to find a good pen when I got interested in it through some youtube videos(wow, YT actually working as intended, for once). To anyone interested, Pentel Energel 0.7mm is the best gel pen in the entire world, hands down. For oil-based ink, it would be Uniball Jetstream, i guess(i am gel guy). I always wanted to journal and thought…

I am left-handed and the Energel has totally changed my life— it’s the best pen I’ve ever had. I have recently come to believe Pentel is (pardon the cliche) the Apple of writing instruments. They’ve simply PM’d the hell out of their product over time, and it really shows.

Also a lefty and I agree wholeheartedly. I stockpile them because I'm worried they'll be discontinued and I'll be back to smudged ink on everything.

Re: The importance of handwriting is now better understood

#115

Post by WalterBright »

I learned in college that the act of taking notes by hand helped fix the lectures in my memory. When I'd review the notes later, I'd hear the lecture in my mind along with it.

Laptops in class don't work. Handouts that are copies of the presentation don't work.

Leave the laptop in your room. Just bring a spiral notebook to class and a couple pens. It's the best way to learn from a lecture.

Bonus: years later you'll enjoy going through your notebooks again.

Re: The importance of handwriting is now better understood

#116

Post by zellyn »

creaturemachine wrote: post #107
zellyn wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see any evidence that this is a bot post. It's the only post in the thread that actually points to scans of the Marion Richardson source materials mentioned in the parent comment. I guess it doesn't matter now, since it's been flagged… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I'm trying my hardest to imagine someone making a bot that scours the Internet for discussions on handwriting only to post in the most succinct manner a resource that is very much on-topic.

Right? So weird.

Re: The importance of handwriting is now better understood

#117

Post by 0_____0 »

jmkd wrote: post #32

If your handwriting looks good and gives satisfaction you will do it more. It truly helps embodying thoughts and ideas, and provides another significant layer (like flavour in a recipe) of learning and understanding. I was fortunate to be taught Marion Richardson [0] style handwriting aged 8 or so, and decades years later my handwriting is still universally complimented. I hand write letters for pleasure and take not…

Very much agree with your observation on the satisfaction gleaned from handwriting well.

About 5 years ago I "installed a font" on myself - I sat down with a sheet of letter forms and taught myself a variant of architectural lettering, which has a nice balance of legibility and aesthetics, and less rigid than engineering lettering.

I'm still working on some of my cursive forms, but I definitely enjoy writing more (and the rhythm!! It's like music or dance, and almost meditative) now that I've started using it again as an adult.

Re: The importance of handwriting is now better understood

#118

Post by rramadass »

bowsamic wrote: post #35

I would love to write but my handwriting has always been poor and mocked by others, which has put me off

Should not matter; get started.

My handwriting is atrocious (right from early school days my teachers have complained about it) and yet i write. Writing is personal; you are engaged in communicating with yourself and not with others; thus it doesn't matter what it looks like as long as you freely express yourself.

Re: The importance of handwriting is now better understood

#119

Post by mavhc »

eviks wrote: post #62

> One of the best-demonstrated advantages of writing by hand seems to be in superior note-taking. In a study from 2014 by Pam Mueller and Danny Oppenheimer, students typing wrote down almost twice as many words and more passages verbatim from lectures, suggesting they were not understanding so much as rapidly copying the material. > Handwriting—which takes longer for nearly all university-level students—forces note-t…

Ah yes, lectures, which refuse to acknowledge the existence of the printing press
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