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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

#461

Post by tetec1 »

jcubic wrote: post #453
wingworks wrote: post #446

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

This doesn’t work well with hard science lectures like physics or math.

Even when just copying what the professor what writing on the blackboard I could barely keep up.

It’s hard to summarize those lectures on the fly, and it might be a mistake as you’ll miss some important steps.

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#462

Post by galleywest200 »

tetec1 wrote: post #461
jcubic wrote: post #453

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

This doesn’t work well with hard science lectures like physics or math. Even when just copying what the professor what writing on the blackboard I could barely keep up. It’s hard to summarize those lectures on the fly, and it might be a mistake as you’ll miss some important steps.

Luckily when I was studying for my Organic Chemistry degree it was just pictures and arrows and not a lot of anything else!

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#463

Post by usef- »

jskherman wrote: post #444
john_strinlai wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it was funny seeing this right below the comment saying " I _love_ buying a used book and finding a previous reader's notes in the margins. It's the greatest. ". different strokes. if you want to ensure you don't get sick from a line being crossed out, buy new.

Well not everyone has the privilege to buy new books, especially course-mandated books that the professor "coincidentally" wrote and costs hundreds of dollars. I would even say that "crossing out lines you disagree with" is vandalism because a book can always be read by others and come to a different conclusion and debate in their mind from there. Why treat books as disposable mind scaffolds when they can be used aga…

This is why "condition" exists for secondhand books. People can choose a written-in one or not. If you can't afford new, note that written-in ones are often even cheaper!

I have been delighted by the writing I've seen in books, especially if it's a copy of a friend or family member, as you feel you are connecting to another reader years later, and the item is no longer identically mass-produced. But maybe it depends on the taste of the person writing in the book.

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#464

Post by Wowfunhappy »

ubermonkey wrote: post #377
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 mean, be skeptical all you want, but at least TRY it. I know I retain more if I handwrite notes. It's my lived experience, so that's what I do in meetings, generally. These notes get transcribed back into some orderly data store for later reference, but the initial notes are pen and paper.

Oh, I can tell you for myself that handwriting is awful. I'm focused entirely on the process of writing and can't think about anything else. When I type I feel like I can move at the speed of my brain.

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#465

Post by usef- »

johongo wrote: post #378
joeriddles wrote: post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. I love buying used books and seeing what other people found interesting, whether it's by way of notes in the margins, highlights, etc. I also love it when people write their name in the front of the book and when they read it. I like the idea of a single copy of a book making its way among many people, all adding their own thoughts.

If only people did this with care. I have seen too many books where people just highlight everything.

The same is true in every realm: taste matters. But that's not a reason to blanket-discourage expression.

(I do wonder if the people here who hate it are picturing students who blindly highlight pages, and the people who like it are remembering the times they've seen a few pencilled sentences in margins of an old book)

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#466

Post by vonunov »

jcubic wrote: post #453
wingworks wrote: post #446

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

More to the point, even if you type fast enough to transcribe the lecture (or you know steno or pen shorthand or whatever), transcribing simply doesn't do the job of note-taking. (I speak from direct experience -- I did audio transcription work for a few years, and I generally wouldn't have been able to pass a test on something I'd just finished transcribing, even after having gone back through to do proofreading/editing at the end. There was some degree of mental engagement with the substantive meaning of things in the moment, but it was largely a "pass-through" sort of activity, if that makes sense.)

The idea isn't to merely take down a record of what was said, but rather to integrate the concepts into your own understanding: What associations can be made with existing knowledge, can you demonstrate to yourself your understanding of an abstract by contriving examples of it, can you explain it to your grandma, do you have a clear model of its scope/boundaries/limits and of where it fits into its domain, do you know the why as well as the what, etc.

The part where we have to condense what we're hearing into something concise enough that we can keep up is a feature. For that reason I wouldn't really recommend transcribing the lecture and then making notes out of it later, either (ideally we should be reviewing and organizing the notes into a more structured / fleshed-out / pared-down (as needed) form later anyway, so it would just seem to add an extra step). I don't know what everyone's courses are like, though, so maybe that approach could be useful or necessary for someone.

(And of course the takeaway here is that, assuming my understanding of it is well-grounded, and provided there isn't truly something inherent to handwriting that makes it cognitively advantageous, typing should have the potential to be just as workable a medium.)

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#467

Post by lanfeust6 »

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…

Know what's way easier? Writing in a companion notebook next your book, with as much space as you need.

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#468

Post by quest88 »

eviks wrote: post #439
nxc18 wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I take notes when typing, I can transcribe the content word-for-word without knowing what I am hearing and without thinking about it. When I hand write, I am generally forced to either slow down and repeat what I am listening/watching (if an option), or actually think about what is being said, and choose the important parts to write down, or rephrase it in a more efficient-to-write way. I am taking a course righ…

If you don't read notes, why waste time making them instead of slowing down even more and spending that extra time/effort on active listening/thinking?

They way the slow down and spend extra effort is by writing notes.

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#469

Post by momoschili »

mangodrunk wrote: post #368
joeriddles wrote: post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. I love buying used books and seeing what other people found interesting, whether it's by way of notes in the margins, highlights, etc. I also love it when people write their name in the front of the book and when they read it. I like the idea of a single copy of a book making its way among many people, all adding their own thoughts.

Same reason I miss those library cards found in the back of books. I enjoyed seeing the history a book had, how years could pass without anyone checking it out or seeing a flurry of checkouts.

wow I hadn't thought of those in a while and I also used to love seeing that history and thinking about where the book had been. Thanks!!

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#470

Post by alok-g »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #275
gghackernewsgg wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is how it was explained to me by a tutor: handwriting is better for learning because it's slower. The need for brevity forces you to mentally engage the material in ways that are more conducive to understanding and recall. If you can replicate that mental engagement while typing, you'd probably get similar results. This makes a lot of sense to me in light of what we know about how learning happens. I have never…

I've heard this theory too—but I feel it doesn't match how we do anything else in life. For example, you could make typing slow too by forcing people to type with two fingers, or use a really tiny keyboard. Are touch typists worse at learning? This doesn't really refute the theory—maybe touch typing is worse—but it doesn't match my logical intuition at all.

If the method used for purposeful slow-down results in more cognitive load to type, it should make it worse. With enough practice with the method, the slow-down could remain whereas the cognitive load could go away. I think then it should match the effect seen with handwriting.

Here's my own more detailed article, though it's not saying much more on this.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/handwriting-better-than-typin...

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