Ask HN: Why do students still hand write notes? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Why do students still hand write notes?

5 pointscarlycue8 comments

I see so many students at campus take hand writing notes with an iPad or pen and paper and it makes no sense to me when we have laptops. I tried to use an iPad with the Pencil to take take notes in class, brainstorming down ideas and typing up drafts of essays and it was significantly less efficient than typing notes on a keyboard. It felt like time moved slower.

The question is, why do students willingly chose an inefficient path by handwriting notes in 2023?

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Interesting question. I can handwrite a note, never look at it again and remember the thing I wrote about. For me some notes are not about what the note says but the act of physically writing creates a flag in my mind about the thing. In fact, most of my handwritten notes are illegible (my handwriting is awful). I actually do two things during meetings, handwrite notes about aspects I'd like to remember generally, type notes about aspects I need to remember specifically. I'm sure it's different for everyone, that's just how it works for me.

If you're a 1950's typist, trying to copy text that you don't much care about, then typing is pretty efficient.

Vs. if you're a modern student... Others have noted that most humans remember things better if they hand write them. Hand-written notes have the additional advantages of needing minimal & low-cost equipment, and not suffering from any "...then my computer died" high-tech failure modes.

The process of writing has been documented to make the information being written stick better in memory than mere listening or even typing.

Just one of MANY links you can find on the topic: https://www.lifesavvy.com/19204/why-you-remember-things-bett...

Handwritting notes more efficient than hunting down individual characters on keyboard (aka not a touch typist).

Stenograpy much more efficient than standard keyboard typing.

Likely same reason student(s) hasn't put together open source smart glasses displaying "talk" as text to allow for real time user hightlighting (for what user wants to capture/'note').

This is way more efficient than writing/typing, as can also capture/note non-text presentations. aka inkbox[0]/epireader[1], soli[1] (finger gesture/sign the key(s)), diy open source glasses[3]

[0] : https://github.com/Kobo-InkBox/inkbox

[1] : https://gitlab.com/guyjeangilles/piereader

[2] : https://atap.google.com/soli/techno

[3] : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZY760EIUc4

Why type at all? All of my professors have provided me with the lecture slides.

Or maybe you’re asking if there’s a difference between slow, intentional note taking which you can augment with drawings, versus crib notes of whatever the slide says and probably won’t be reviewed until the week before exams.

The less effort you expend on a task, the less notice you take.

Remember the old punishment of "Write out 100 times 'I must not talk in class'"?

There was a reason that punishment was more effective than most others.

I usually write nodes on a nodepad, pen and paper. I hate computers and I tend to remember stuff better when I write it down.

Diagrams and equations. You'll find them useful when that history degree loses its luster.

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