Comment by crazygringo | Hacker News Reader

Comment by crazygringo | Hacker News Reader

I know lots of people swear that handwriting helps them with retention, but for me it's the polar opposite and always has been.

I hate writing with my hand. Hate it. It's slow, it's friction, and I have to pay attention to writing instead of thinking. To back up and dot my i's, whether I can cram another word on this line or not, do I need to slow down to be more legible or speed up to catch up? Ugh is my hand cramping? If I'm writing, I'm thinking about writing rather than thinking about the thing. You might as well be asking me to listen and waterski at the same time. It's not gonna help.

I love typing. It's effortless and fast and I can do it without thinking (or looking), so I'm actually thinking about the content of what I'm writing.

If I'm taking notes by hand in a lecture, I simply will not remember most of the lecture because I was too distracted by the mechanical process of writing it down. If I'm typing out notes, it's totally fine -- I pay attention perfectly, maybe even better because I've even got it outlined in sections.

I've always been baffled at how some people remember things better with writing. Are they better at multitasking? Are they bad at typing? Is writing just easier for them than it is for me? Is it something about muscle tension in the hand?

I'm right there with you. I can type faster than I can think, with very little effort. But I can't write and think at the same time. If I took handwritten notes in class, I didn't remember anything that was said. And I couldn't keep up, and it was illegible so I got nothing. Just listening was far better for me. I didn't know it in college, but I'd been diagnosed with dysgraphia as a very young child and was never told. Do an image search for adult dysgraphia handwriting examples. From your description I'd surprised if you couldn't find an example that was very close to yours. Like most learning differences it comes with some strengths, but knowing what advice doesn't apply to you is important.

If we take into account that the average person types less than 80 WPM (and that’s being generous) using a pecking technique and by looking at the keyboard, I can definitely understand how the average person would prefer writing over typing. After all, the same complaints that you have about writing apply to their typing technique. They think more about typing and which key to press, rather than the content.

Per another comment, this study enforced single-finger hunt-and-peck (and they specified which hand, you couldn't even use your dominant one if it was the other hand).

Same experience here. I also have ADHD so maybe that has something to do with it. I'm also willing to concede that maybe some peoples' brains are wired for it and some aren't, but that further supports my position against teachers universally applying this rule to students throughout my educational career.

Disclaimer, I love handwriting. TL;DR handwriting = write only + self-expression

I think that handwriting and its constraints, lead to a different mindset from when you're typing on a keyboard:

- It's write Only; You can't erase easily, so you either accept it and just keep pushing forward or you get distracted by not being able to do so (good), leading you to think twice before writing (bad).

- The physical coordination involved is a soothing and mindful process (at least for me) and it feels much more creative than typing. It's way easier to stay focused while doing so (might relate to my ADHD).

I rememeber vividly myself asking my dad when I was a kid why his handwriting was so different from what I learning at school. He told me that the success criteria for writing is can you read your own writing? Can you make an effort to make readable for others when you intend it to be read by someone else? If yes, that's good enough, nobody cares if you draw letters in a uncommon fashion, as long as they can understand the words.

While questionable at times, the way that doctors write follows this logic, because when writing the prescription the tend to optimize for writing more than reading, and therefore allow themselves more freedom.

I feel that once you've taken that step, writing becomes a much more enjoyable process. When I write, a "f" will be drawn differently, depending if it's the first letter of the word, or in the middle (as in "effort").

So I end up having three "modes" for handwriting:

- Ephemeral, I'll write things so quickly that I know I'll be able to decipher it only for a few days, while the topic is still fresh in my brain.

- Just for me, so I make zero efforts, just paying a bit more attention so I don't end up scribbling "effort" into "e||o||" which may cause problems in a month or two.

- For others, where I'll keep my handwriting peculiarities, but make sure it's absolutely decipherable (so no shortcuts, no stroked words, etc ..)

Strangely, I remember myself handwriting things, but I never remember typing something (though I'll remember about the thoughts of course). It's like handwriting is a more anchored experience somehow.

> Is writing just easier for them than it is for me?

Probably. Every skill requires practice to become effortless.

You're complaining about handwriting, some people are saying reading is an effort and waste their life watching talking heads on youtube...

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