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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

#691

Post by BenFranklin100 »

setopt wrote: post #687
BenFranklin100 wrote: post #582

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Across a decade, I’ve used a Paperlike on five different iPads ranging from the iPad Mini, standard iPad, iPad Pro, both Gen 1 and Gen 2 Apple Pencils plus other styluses and never once experienced the problems you suggest. I’m making this comment on an iPad wth aPaperlike protector in fact. To the contrary, the noise levels when writing are dramatically lower and I simply cannot imagine anyone becoming fatigued beca…

Interesting. I wonder what’s the difference in our usage, perhaps the amount of force we normally use when swiping and writing? Regarding noise, one of the main reasons I stopped using it was because my partner complained about the «scratching» noises when we were home officing together during Covid lockdown, and I personally also found it loud. I didn’t get complaints on the iPad before getting the screen protector.…

I don’t know why the difference. But if noise is a problem I would suggest buying different nib types and experimenting with those. Amazon has a wide selection, including rubberized ones that will make writing on the iPad nearly silent.

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#692

Post by setopt »

BenFranklin100 wrote: post #691
setopt wrote: post #687

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting. I wonder what’s the difference in our usage, perhaps the amount of force we normally use when swiping and writing? Regarding noise, one of the main reasons I stopped using it was because my partner complained about the «scratching» noises when we were home officing together during Covid lockdown, and I personally also found it loud. I didn’t get complaints on the iPad before getting the screen protector.…

I don’t know why the difference. But if noise is a problem I would suggest buying different nib types and experimenting with those. Amazon has a wide selection, including rubberized ones that will make writing on the iPad nearly silent.

Indeed, I did switch to a rubber-like PenTips nib after that, and it made the writing experience really silent. Unfortunately it also felt somehow clumsy to write with – worse than just plastic-on-glass writing. It’s hard to describe, but it somehow made the «turns» in my handwriting feel awkward, and despite sticking with it for months I couldn’t get used to it. There’s perhaps other brands out there that make better ones, haven’t looked around further.

In my case, I eventually went back to a mixture of laptop and paper for most tasks, and now just use the iPad for highlighting (Zotero), lecturing (using Notability on projector as a blackboard/whiteboard), and occasionally to make figures and slides. But I stopped using it for note taking or drafting.

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#693

Post by dhosek »

bigyabai wrote: post #669
itsdavesanders wrote: post #666

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes but you can’t watch Netflix on a Moleskin. If all you’re doing is writing then it’s not worth it, but for me the iPad is a fantastic piece of kit that can consume media, create media, and of all types, writing to fully mastered music albums.

Most people I know that make music on an iPad only use it for specific plugins or MIDI apps. They bounce the stems out to WAV and then mix/master it in a full desktop DAW. You'd go through a lot of unnecessary suffering trying to do a professional mixdown and master on iPad.

A musician friend used to actually do recording with garageband on an iPad. I use mine for sheet music a lot and even sprang for the external foot pedal for page turns. There was one rehearsal where I didn’t have a chance to scan everything in advance and was playing from printed music for one song and I kept stepping on the pedal to turn the page and nothing happened.

I’ve not done it, but it seems it could be a good alternative to a laptop for digital synth stuff.

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#695

Post by Alan_Writer »

As a writer, I used to love to handwrite; it was practical, easier, faster, with no misspellings. But now, I had to adapt to the new format, and I think I'm good at it too. If I write something by hand now, I must think of putting it on digital, and that's overwork and time-consuming. I also tried using OCR apps, but it never feels the same, and the outcome might be wrong sometimes too, which means you have to edit that work. But I still try to write lil notes by hand when possible and practical. But yeah, I miss using notebooks for handwriting. Feel nostalgic now.

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#696

Post by adrian_b »

ksenzee wrote: post #682
nyrikki wrote: post #679

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the OP: > "I learned cursive as a child. Then I went for many years without using it much, and forgot some of it." While fountain pens may be nicer for cursive, they were very late in the games only coming into the scene in the late 1800s, long after fashion had been set. In the US we were taught either the Zaner-Bloser or the D'Nealian alphabet, and while most of the claims of cursive over manuscript are typica…

To clarify my point, I am fairly sure the issue is not fountain pens requiring less pressure to write with than everything else, but rather ballpoint pens requiring more pressure than all earlier pen technology. I have not used a dip pen myself, but I can't imagine it would require pressure to write. In other words, all of the writing tools in common use since ~1950 make it easy to separate your letters, but before t…

Dip pens do not require more pressure than fountain pens.

However, most nibs for dip pens cause more friction on the paper, because they do not have the balls that are typically welded on the ends of the nibs for fountain pens, so writing with a dip pen usually feels scratchy.

So there is an extra force from friction, but it is lateral, not a vertical pressure.

Gel pens require less pressure than classic ballpoint pens. Classic rollerball pens with an absorptive reservoir usually require even less pressure. Liquid-ink rollerball pens together with fountain pens require the least pressure.

I agree that with a high-pressure writing tool like a ballpoint pen it feels more natural to write disconnected letters, while with a low pressure tool like a fountain pen it feels better to write with connected cursive letters, without raising the nip from the paper.

Despite this, while I was still in high school, I transitioned my handwriting from the cursive style that I was taught as a small child to printed-like letters, even if I was using a fountain pen and I have always preferred the writing tools that require the least pressure, so fountain pens and liquid-ink rollerball pens are at the top of my preferences, while ballpoint pens with viscous ink are at the bottom.

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#698

Post by piskov »

apparent wrote: post #538
piskov wrote: post #457

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Huh, will give both of these a try. But man, I would not be thrilled if the only way to have decent battery life is to make my iPad not-findable, or to have to turn on wifi whenever I want to use it (I couldn't really set much of a schedule). Seems like the Find My bit could be taken care of by not updating location until the gyros are triggered. Honestly I'd be happy to have it in airplane mode when not being touche…

It got really bad a few years ago: telegram notifications, homekit and find my were the culprits.

Just check battery stats, it will show what drains the most.

But after one point in time I gave up and just set up airplane mode automation every 6 hours

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#699

Post by crazygringo »

annzabelle wrote: post #526
crazygringo wrote: post #524

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm very curious what that's like. Like, handwriting doesn't do a thing for me. It doesn't help me learn at all. I can't help but wonder if there's some advantage that I'm missing? But on the other hand, I don't seem to have any problems paying attention or learning. So I'm still just so confused as to how it helps. Like, is my brain already doing the things that some other people need handwriting for? Or is it not,…

It's hard to describe. In upper level math (real analysis and the like) in college I would write every single thing the professor wrote on the chalkboard down in my notebook. I didn't really study or do much homework, but copying down those proofs made the concepts stay in my brain. Do you write when you do math? Math and handwriting are so intertwined in my experience, I can't imagine doing math past high school wit…

Math is different, because most people aren't quick/accurate enough with LaTeX to take notes with a keyboard.

And taking notes in math is different from other subjects anyways, because you are literally just copying verbatim. You're not doing any of the summarization and selection that people talk about being so important to do, because handwriting is slower.

So I think that copying down math notes verbatim is not really what people are talking about at all when they talk about the benefits of taking notes by hand.

Re: Writing by hand is good for your brain

#700

Post by crazygringo »

jakevoytko wrote: post #489
crazygringo wrote: post #476

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I hand write taking notes, I am indeed forced to slow down, and it's maddening. I'm busy trying to figure out how to condense the ideas into something I can quickly write, and in the meantime the lecturer is continuing and I've missed something important they've just said. I genuinely do not understand how people find it helps them to handwrite notes in a lecture. If I type on my laptop, I can do that "mindlessl…

It kept me listening. When I was on minute 70 of a boring lecture I started daydreaming. If I was writing even minimal notes, I'd need to briefly consider each idea and decide whether it was worth recording.

But if you're taking notes by typing then you have to be listening as well. You can't daydream and transcribe at the same time. At least I sure can't.
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