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Writing by hand is good for your brain

nealstephenson.substack.com

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Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#451

Post by arandomhuman »

apparent wrote: post #171

I find his dismissal of iPad writing to be unconvincing. He talks about how we have calibrated our writing utensils over centuries to involve the proper amount of friction, and how that knowledge goes out the window when you're writing on an iPad. That may be true, but it's not like you can't just re-acclimate to the experience of writing on an iPad. Most people don't handwrite much, period, so if they start handwrit…

I think you're missing the forest for the trees with this statement and it makes your comment seem a bit reductive. It's not so much a dismissal of writing on a particular product (iPad) as much as the article is about optimal writing by hand, the best materials, and some of the reasoning as to why.

While you may be convinced writing on a screen or tablet is objectively superior to doing things the "old way" there is literature on the topic indicating otherwise you might want to consider - that being said, everyone is different in their preferences and anatomy. I for one can't stand to write on a plastic/glass surface with a stylus, the ergonomics feel wrong and my retention for journaling is significantly worse.

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#452

Post by mkl »

foobarian wrote: post #184
losvedir wrote: post #11

Wow, I can't believe Neal Stephenson of all people writes exclusively by hand. His books are tomes . I totally buy that this is the case for him. I wonder how much is just what he's used to vs what's actually better. I feel like I write so slow compared to how fast I type that I struggle to put the words together on the paper. I can spurt out something with a keyboard 10x as fast, and then re-review and re-organize a…

I wonder if Brandon Sanderson writes by hand :-D

No: https://faq.brandonsanderson.com/knowledge-base/what-program...

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#453

Post by jcubic »

wingworks wrote: post #446
Wowfunhappy wrote: post #233

I've always been pretty skeptical of the data which says handwriting is better for learning than typing. Yes, handwriting causes more brain activity, but just because your brain is doing more does not mean it's doing the right thing! For example, if I asked you to code FizzBuzz while riding a unicycle, I'm pretty sure you would show more brain activity than if you were just sitting at a desk. This does not mean it's…

I think like many things, it's not universally true. At least for me I'm a really slow writer (and poor spelling), that if I were to hand write notes in a lecture, I'd focus on writing and miss half of what is said, and fall behind to the point that something I was copying from the board gets wiped off. Maybe typing isn't ideal, but it's the better of the 2 options for me.

When you are writing notes during lectures, you should not write word for word. If you do, you will never catch up with what is said. People often speak faster than they write.

If you want to take notes during lectures, you need to learn how to summarize in your own words. You need to write the stuff down so you can remember what was in the lecture. Something you can summarize the whole sentence with one word. Notes are for you, not for other people to read.

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#454

Post by Exoristos »

postalcoder wrote: post #20

A corollary to this is, when reading books, mark them up! Don’t be precious with them. Destroy the spine so it’s easier to read, fold pages, write the important stuff inside the front cover of the book. Cross out stuff you disagree with, draw a big circles around the stuff that resonates. Not only does it make consumption a lot more engaging, it makes a revisit of that book extremely rewarding. Don’t get caught up tr…

You don't need to "destroy the spine" and severely shorten the book's life; you can and should break books in[0].

0. https://www.museumbookstore.com/blogs/blog/how-to-open-a-new...

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#455

Post by 1saadcodes »

I wonder how much of this is handwriting versus simply removing distractions. A notebook doesn't have notifications, tabs, or an autocomplete constantly trying to finish your thoughts. I hope to to see studies comparing handwriting with typing on a distraction-free device

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#456

Post by arandomhuman »

monsieurbanana wrote: post #365
jdgoesmarching wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought the purpose of coding was to produce software, but apparently every action I take should be evaluated on how well it achieves arbitrary brain calisthenics.

Yes the brain is known to be useful when writing software

jej

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#457

Post by piskov »

apparent wrote: post #292
lynndotpy wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My issue with the iPad is that it just does not have the fine-fidelity or response time of real ink, and it's not something that never fails. It's so frustrating to be so pregnant with an idea, to open ones iPad, and to find out the battery is low, Procreate isn't working, the Notes app is confusing to navigate, oh no you're writing but your palm has slid on the screen, etc. I've spent a lot of time searching for a d…

I do find the iPad battery drain to be annoying and inexplicable. When they first came out, iPads held a charge for weeks in standby. New ones drain in a few days, even when background app activity and such are disabled. And you're right that it is frustrating to pick up your iPad and discover that the battery is near-dead, which happens with surprising frequency. That critique doesn't apply to Remarkables or Kindle…

Find my, most likely

Turning that off, or using automatic airplane mode (eg in shortcuts set a schedule to turn on airplane mode daily)

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#458

Post by cratermoon »

Stephenson mentions the Pilot G-2 Gel, and it is a great pen, especially for left-handers. I've found one that improves on it: the Pilot Acroball. It's a better G-2 and though it might be a bit hard to find at retail it can be found online in all kinds of variations.

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#459

Post by tetec1 »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #233

I've always been pretty skeptical of the data which says handwriting is better for learning than typing. Yes, handwriting causes more brain activity, but just because your brain is doing more does not mean it's doing the right thing! For example, if I asked you to code FizzBuzz while riding a unicycle, I'm pretty sure you would show more brain activity than if you were just sitting at a desk. This does not mean it's…

I personally hate handwriting. My handwriting is ugly and slow, and I keep making annoying mistakes that I can’t fix. It’s generally a terrible experience.

If given the choice I’ll always type.

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#460

Post by Gigachad »

apparent wrote: post #292
lynndotpy wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My issue with the iPad is that it just does not have the fine-fidelity or response time of real ink, and it's not something that never fails. It's so frustrating to be so pregnant with an idea, to open ones iPad, and to find out the battery is low, Procreate isn't working, the Notes app is confusing to navigate, oh no you're writing but your palm has slid on the screen, etc. I've spent a lot of time searching for a d…

I do find the iPad battery drain to be annoying and inexplicable. When they first came out, iPads held a charge for weeks in standby. New ones drain in a few days, even when background app activity and such are disabled. And you're right that it is frustrating to pick up your iPad and discover that the battery is near-dead, which happens with surprising frequency. That critique doesn't apply to Remarkables or Kindle…

I shut my iPad down when I’m not using it because the passive drain is absurd. I don’t need my iPad to do literally anything when it’s screen off. I have a phone for notifications.
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