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Comment by cybarDOTlive | Hacker News Reader

Just wanted to leave a reminder that pencil is better than pen for note-taking. And paper is better than screen.

My flow is so much better with a pencil and paper, and then I just transfer the organized meat onto a screen, only after I'm satisfied. Working first by typing into a note-taking app is counter productive, your brain doesn't want to work like that. It wants to scribble, doodle, draw arrows pointing to stuff.

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Why is pencil better? The paper/screen difference I've heard about before, but not pencil/pen.

Also yes, I write notes in a lot of books, especially for course taking. And indeed there are scribbles, little drawings, weird math symbols that I'd never attempt in an application, and arrows everywhere.

Probably just personal preference actually, I don't even end up using the eraser on a pencil. But it seems lighter, less pressure needs to be applied to write with it. Similar to why people that type a lot prefer a mechanical keyboard? The words just come out a lot easier, in my experience.

Ah, I see. For me, I like using gel pens for a similar reason. They just sort of glide. I don't care about erasing. I'd rather strike something out than lose my train of thought rubbing something out or using liquid paper.

I'm a lefty, so pencils tend to be extra smudgy. I don't use erasable ink for the same reason. Sometimes that gets too much like self-censorship.

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