this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2023
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With so much note taking apps nowadays, I can't understand why does anyone still write notes with pen and paper. You need to bring the notepad, book or that paper to retrieve that information, and most of the time you don't have it in hand. While my phone almost always reachable and you carry when you go out. For those still like to do handwriting, there's many app does that and they can even convert it to text notes.

So, if you still write notes with pen and paper, why?

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

No, but I'm using the reMarkable 2 instead as a designated digital notepad, so you would probably argue I still have to carry stuff around.

As to why - I can write fast than I type (in meetings etc.) without losing focus.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Often times I keep a notepad beside me. It is my preferred way to store ridiculous length passwords for stuff I care about. I'm usually on a laptop and I may switch it up and use another device to look up stuff. I don't mix my workstation with socials or shopping. Those three activities are all done on different devices, with different networks. So I don't care too much about what can be scaped from here. I don't see value in a small amount of convenience exchanged for connecting my devices, I'd rather just jot down a note and look up the item when I need it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

So rarely that one time when I had to write something short on a guestbook, for a second or two, I didn't remember how.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

generally no, but sometimes yes - mostly jotting down phone numbers, or if one of my many different passwords change until I can memorize it, (ie: at work), etc

other than that, the only time pen touches paper is when I write a check.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I kinda meet in the middle and just digitally scan my handwritten notes. It makes for easier backups and still have all the benefits of writing paper notes

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Depends. Usually I avoid relying too hard on my handwriting since it sucks ass, but sometimes I need to annotate schematics for 30 year old computers

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Hi Steve! How are you doing?... Good!...No last night was great! , yes I'm in the office...I need to pick up the stuff for the birthday party? Ok no problem, can you send me the address? ...oh you driving, okay let me write it down... Hold on, I will put you on the loudspeaker so I can open my notes application... please don't say anything embarrassing, I have like 10 co workers around me... Uh-um...

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Writing with a notepad is better for those who need to be freeform, want the ease of opening it up, and/or have privacy concerns (a phone of any security can be hacked, but a notepad can’t if you write in a code only you can understand, which can’t be done on a phone without an unlimited resource of special characters). As for reachability, it’s what you make of it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

If you have to write equations and drawings, pen and paper is still better for me. I'll scan it to onenote afterwards.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

yep, still doing it

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Scratch notes all the time. I know I should keep longhand notes of my professional interactions, as they can be priceless legal records, but I've never been any good at it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I’ll one up ya!

I am a pen and paper guy…for initial notes.

If I deem a certain note or set of notes is worth keeping long term, then I recreate them in Joplin. All about the extra work.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I did take all my notes for university on pen and paper because I don't have a laptop with a touchscreen and pen. But I was never quite happy, since I would lose some notes or not find something specific that I knew I wrote down somewhere. This semester I tried using Obsidian and I and it has been great so far. I am now able to search my notes by text and I can back them up somewhere safe. When I'm not on my laptop I take quick notes on my phone but the important ones will then later be transferred to Obsidian.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

most of my notes i take digitally, but if i'm working on something i'll use pen and paper so i don't risk damaging my phone.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

No. Handwriting is slow and makes my hand sore. Keyboards are way more comfortable.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I write with pen and paper because its faster for me and it's much more tactile.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Important notes yes. I have like a billion notes on my computer. I don't want to grep that.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I don’t think I have touched a pen for much other than signing my name since Covid hit

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Here’s the biggest reason: we are evolved from savannah primates for whom the ability to make eye contact and hold it was a signal of “you can trust me, I’m not about to bite you.” Paper and pen don’t signal “I have decided to break this evolutionary/social contract” in the same way a phone or open laptop does.

I help mentor a lot of young people in early career and their generation with a phone is an excuse for an x-er/boomer interviewer to punt them waiting to happen. It’s career and comp limiting, right or no.

Also if one finds a taken note is missing something, contact the original party. A conversation that begins with: “you got me thinking about this more deeply and I think I may have missed something…” is the key to mentorship, advocacy, and growth.

In short from a transcoding of bits perspective, other media may be better. But for those they acknowledge human constraint and opportunity a nice notebook and (a cheap shill from me) a Lamy Safari medium nib fountain pen will do you quite well.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

we are evolved from savannah primates for whom the ability to make eye contact and hold it was a signal of “you can trust me, I’m not about to bite you.”

Funny. Cats are the opposite. To them, unblinking eye contact says “I don't trust you. I'm keeping my eye on you.” Hence the slow blink they're famous for.

Paper and pen don’t signal “I have decided to break this evolutionary/social contract” in the same way a phone or open laptop does.

Why not? Either way, you're breaking eye contact. When paper first became commonplace, people probably made the same argument, and there are photos of people on trains all looking at their newspapers and ignoring each other.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Most of my writing is in pen and paper, I eat through a 200 page composition book about every year. I also do writing on shared drives, like Google docs mostly, and I have grapheme notepad installed on ever electronic device that I own, and I use it fairly often. Something about handwriting makes it easier to get started, maybe its my art/drawing background. I also write in cursive, and people seem to think my handwriting is nice. Admittedly I have practiced letters since grade school, which is kind of unusual I think. Maybe not, I just don't have as many type/font/lettering conversations as I might like

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I don't write notes most of the time. If I do I'm in a meeting and just use vscode or whatever task management system (jira, trello, etc) we have.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

When I need to learn something and think it over I use pen and paper. If it’s noting stuff down to read later or record somewhere, then it’s digital.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Haha no. I make all my notes in markdown, or if I have to write something Math fast like in university lectures, with xournal++.

If it has to be a proper document: LaTeX or real fancy Markdown.

I only sometimes do kanji writing practice (I'm learning japanese), and for that, I'm using paper. Xournal++ would work just as well through.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Depends on the situation, but yes, I still keep notes with a mechanical pencil and an A5 spiral graphing paper notebook. I do use an electronic notebook (Joplin) for some things, especially if what I am working on will end up in a document or if I need to include screenshots, links, or other embedded items, but for general notes, paper. And, there are places I go that do not allow technology, so having the smaller notepad has come in very handy.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I do that for work, for instance when evaluating students and sharing my desktop, it is just more convenient and private to do it on a paper. Maybe also nostalgia plays a factor here, since even in uni not that long ago, I still used notebook and pen.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

what do you mean "still"?

i never did. i have an ugly hand writing and writing a lot, hurts my fingers. not sure why - i guess i have weird hands.

i also suck at going back at looking at the notes - so i write stuff down, in obsidian. i can add photos, drawing, sketches, links, audio bites, videos etc.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Writing on paper helps me to make sense of the chaos in my head.
I have a big notebook in which I write out a first draft of new projects in as neat a handwriting as I can manage. It takes time, but it helps me to order my thoughts into something more coherent. And while writing, my subconscious usually comes up with other points that I might have missed earlier.
I enjoy making my notebook look as nice as possible, using a ruler for lines and tables, adding little illustrations in the margins when idling, etc. I want it to be something I’ll keep after it’s full, because it’ll represent a big chunk of memories from my professional life.

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