Ask: Do you still find any benefits in using handwriting?

Pros: Some say that because we write slower than we type, it allows for deeper thinking as opposed to faster thinking, which could be beneficial. Also, because it's harder to edit one is more careful while writing (deep thinking again). Privacy can be an advantage as well, one can keep handwritten notes private in a physical way.

We all know the pros of typing, easy editing/copying/email and overall functionality.

Discuss

I write my daily task list in a small Moleskine every day. I can't add or remove items like I can with a digital task list, and I'm stuck looking at it on that page for the rest of the week, so I'm often reminded to finish it.

> Some say that because we write slower than we type, it allows for deeper thinking as opposed to faster thinking, which could be beneficial.

My understanding is that studies showing this apply primarily to note taking, like in a class. When people take notes by typing they tend to copy what is said verbatim, whereas writing notes forces people to summarize and therefore internalize more of the information.

As for me, my handwriting is atrocious, I use it so rarely, and it's so much slower than typing for me that I get frustrated whenever I write things.

> because it's harder to edit one is more careful while writing...

Typing allows for easier editing and refinement, so I think it wins out overall :)

We obviously type more than we write now, but I've always found the implicit suggestion of abandoning writing, or engaging in the hypothetical of having to pick only one, a bit of a pointless discussion. While it's not an exact analogy, I would say it's like walking and swimming. Both can get you somewhere, but just because we do one a lot more than the other doesn't mean we don't need both.

I'm going to be incredibly unscientific here.

I think it depends on how well a person is able to translate intelligence into writing. Taking myself as an example: I am extremely bad at the written form - my intelligence significantly drops as soon as pen touches paper. However, I don't suffer this penalty with typing. It might have something to do with this:

> Some say that because we write slower than we type, it allows for deeper thinking as opposed to faster thinking

I would say that I'm a subconscious thinker, I draw conclusions and don't always know why. I would rather rephrase that to:

> Some say that because we write slower than we type, it allows for deeper thinking as opposed to fluid thinking

Handwriting is better for deep thinkers, typing is better for fluid thinkers. To each his own. Maybe where you are going with this is that people aren't handwriting when they should be: I could really agree with that.