Writing by hand is still the best way to retain information • Hacker News Board

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

#51

Post by phyphy » Wed, Nov 23, 2022, 5:52 PM UTC

david422 wrote: post #30

I'm gonna take a guess here - writing by hand is slow enough that your brain has to summarize what is being verbally spoken in order to capture it all. In order to summarize accurately, you need to have some understanding of what is being said, being able to pick out the key points. I write down all my notes - in fact, got a reMarkable to replace all my paper notebooks - but seems to be the best way for me to retain…

This might be a bit weird for me but I really hate context switching when I am trying to learn. Writing breaks the flow of what I am trying to concentrate on and I can no longer actually learn, and I would rather not do it unless I am forced to.

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

#52

Post by erdaniels » Wed, Nov 23, 2022, 5:53 PM UTC

I also believe that writing is better than typing for information. What's more though is that I think AI coding solutions could worsen our retention of information when it comes to coding.

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

#53

Post by alexk307 » Wed, Nov 23, 2022, 5:53 PM UTC

Worked for me. Once I realized I could learn anything by just reading the assigned textbook and taking long form handwritten notes, studying became an efficient exercise that I didn’t mind doing.

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

#54

Post by ianbutler » Wed, Nov 23, 2022, 5:55 PM UTC

I wonder if we've done comparative work between paper writing and writing in something like Obsidian for not retaining the full work but effective downstream use?

What I mean:

When I write something I remember all of it, ironclad, written on my soul levels of remembrance. When I type something, I don't get that, but I get something akin to a pointer. I don't remember the content but I know it's stored in Obsidian/Docs and I can just go look it up.

What's more effective for day to day life? I don't know. I imagine people have a larger bandwidth for the latter, but is it better to keep all the details on hand, in buffer?

Who knows? But I'd like to see some work done on it to compare.

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

#55

Post by treeman79 » Wed, Nov 23, 2022, 5:55 PM UTC

crazygringo wrote: post #35

I just want to add a gigantic caveat: NOT FOR EVERYBODY. I know a lot of people who insist writing by hand helps them. But I also know it's TERRIBLE for me personally. The article claims: > Writing by hand on paper creates a tactile, personalized experience... The complex experience of hand writing on paper contains a multitude of variable elements: the creativity of an individual’s written representation of language…

I actually lost the ability to write after a small stroke. Comes out as nonsense. Can still type at 80wpm just fine. Apparently different parts of the brain.

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

#56

Post by iLoveOncall » Wed, Nov 23, 2022, 5:55 PM UTC

The real question is why would you want to retain information in your brain when you're already writing down that information?

I take notes so that I DON'T have to remember.

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

#57

Post by makach » Wed, Nov 23, 2022, 5:56 PM UTC

flamebait!?

Best way to retain information is spaced repetition. How you do it is up to you. Lots of love.

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

#58

Post by hyperturtle » Wed, Nov 23, 2022, 5:58 PM UTC

crazygringo wrote: post #35

I just want to add a gigantic caveat: NOT FOR EVERYBODY. I know a lot of people who insist writing by hand helps them. But I also know it's TERRIBLE for me personally. The article claims: > Writing by hand on paper creates a tactile, personalized experience... The complex experience of hand writing on paper contains a multitude of variable elements: the creativity of an individual’s written representation of language…

I mostly agree, learning efficiency is not directly tied to the method, but how the brain processes it over time and may even require multiple methods to sufficiently learn something. I wouldn't be surprised if emotions or feeling frustrated while trying to learn hampers it as well.

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

#59

Post by dpkirchner » Wed, Nov 23, 2022, 6:00 PM UTC

psychomugs wrote: post #46

crazygringo wrote: post #35

I just want to add a gigantic caveat: NOT FOR EVERYBODY. I know a lot of people who insist writing by hand helps them. But I also know it's TERRIBLE for me personally. The article claims: > Writing by hand on paper creates a tactile, personalized experience... The complex experience of hand writing on paper contains a multitude of variable elements: the creativity of an individual’s written representation of language…

Studies like this are never universal, nor do they claim to be. The only thing they can claim is statistical significance.

I wish this was more common knowledge. See also: hyperbole.

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

#60

Post by ordu » Wed, Nov 23, 2022, 6:00 PM UTC

It is a very suspicious article. It is a psychology trying to provide justification for a myth that most people believe in any case, and there are no clever experiments to find what factor is at play. Is it tactile response at play or the limits of speed of handwriting?

Such reasoning is a subject to all kinds of biases and heuristics, and they are known to support folk myths instead of establishing the truth.

I personally believe that a laptop allow me to stick in a local minima of note taking: to write down every word while my mind wanders elsewhere it likes. It is all about my attention and concentration on what I'm trying to digest. My opinion is based on a sample size of 1 and my "sample" think all these thoughts and can purposely provide data that justifies my ideas, so I'd advise you to doubt them, but the point is they work for me. While I manage to immerse myself in the information processing it doesn't matter if I'm writing, typing, picking my nose of whatever else I'm doing at the time with my hands so they do not distract me from the information processing.