Pen and Paper Prevail: The Unmatched Strength Over Note Taking Apps like Notion, OneNote, and EverNote.

Why Handwritten Notes Reign Supreme in Learning.

Watch the self-proclaimed “study gurus” and learning experts on YouTube, and you will see them promoting the newest and best note-taking apps and their newest features.

No doubt, note-taking apps such as Evernote, OneNote, and newer apps like Notion, and Obsidian have become popular tools for collecting, storing, and organizing information. These apps offer convenience, sync across devices, and provide an efficient way to search and lookup information.

However, when it comes to effective learning, including comprehension, critical analysis, memory recall, and creativity, writing notes by hand surpasses the features of digital note-taking apps. Let’s explore the reasons why handwritten notes should still be favored as study tools over their digital counterparts.

Before you get bent out of shape, I’m not saying these digital note apps are not useful. They have their purpose for supporting your studies, but compared to writing notes manually, it will likely perform poorly on memory retention, recall, creativity and analysis.

Here some reasons why:

Why Manual Note Taking Works

Comprehension and Critical Analysis:

Writing notes by hand requires active engagement with the material. This process encourages individuals to filter, organize, and synthesize information in their own words. By doing so, handwritten notes facilitate a better understanding of the subject matter, as compared to simply copying and pasting or typing content into a note-taking app.

Manual writing has been found to facilitate self-regulated learning. The act of handwriting serves as an external representation and memory aid, allowing us to offload cognitive processes onto paper. This offloading enables us to better regulate our learning and retain information more effectively.

Other researchers observe that students cannot possibly take down every word of a lecture because writing by hand is slower and more cumbersome than typing. Instead, they focus on listening carefully, processing the information, and then summarizing it.

Additionally, the physical act of writing allows for annotations, underlining, and drawing connections between concepts. These expressive note-taking techniques enhance critical thinking and facilitate a deeper understanding of complex concepts.

In one study, a group of researchers found that handwritten notes helped people learn more than typed notes. The students who took handwritten notes did better on tests, demonstrating that they remembered more and understood the big ideas better than those who typed their notes.

Also, students who took notes by hand did better on tests of understanding than those who used a laptop or tablet. People think that this is because digital note-taking systems do not encourage active learning as well as writing by hand does.

Better Memory Recall:

Many studies have shown that the mental process of writing by hand helps people remember things better. The combination of muscle memory and spatial awareness aids in encoding information into long-term memory. In contrast, digital note-taking often involves mindless typing, resulting in shallow processing and weaker memory connections.

For example, a study published in the American Journal of Psychology found that students who wrote their notes by hand remembered them better than those who typed them or took them on a laptop. Researchers think that this is because writing by hand takes more effort, which uses more brain power and helps people understand what they are learning more deeply.

Students who took notes in class on a laptop were less likely to remember what they had learned than those who wrote down their notes by hand. The researchers came to the conclusion that this was likely because each way of taking notes involves different ways of thinking.

Creative Thinking:

Writing notes by hand gives you a chance to be creative. Pen and paper give students the freedom to draw mind maps, visualize ideas, and sketch diagrams. This creative process not only helps people understand but also makes them better at solving problems and coming up with new ideas.

On the other hand, digital note-taking apps tend to limit creativity due to their rigid formatting options and limited drawing capabilities. The standardized structure may hinder the expansion of ideas and their connections, limiting the potential for creative thinking and individual expression.

The iPad and other tablet devices that let you write and draw by hand can be a good replacement for writing in some ways. The most important thing is that you write or draw with your hand. It does not matter what you write or draw on.

Demonstrate to Yourself

You probably already know from personal experience that writing is more effective. But here’s a way to test your memory effectiveness of taking notes by hand versus using digital online apps:

Step 1: Select a Set of Material

Pick a topic or topics to read and take notes on. This could be a section of a textbook, an article, a lecture video, or anything else that is helpful.

Step 2: Note-Taking by Hand

Read the material and think about it while taking notes by hand. Use a pen or pencil and paper to write down important points, summarize information, and make connections between ideas.

Step 3: Note-Taking Using Digital Online Apps

Study the material again, but this time use a digital app to take notes instead of writing by hand. Explore different apps like Evernote, OneNote, and Notion, and choose one that suits your needs.

Step 4: Time Interval

After you have taken notes using either method, give some time to pass. This time gap can be anywhere from a few hours to a few days, depending on what you want and how much time you have.

Step 5: Memory Recall and Comparison

After some time has passed, look at the material again and try to remember what you learned. Compare how well you can remember the information from your handwritten notes to how well you can remember the information from your digital notes.

Now, think about the answers to the following questions as you compare:

• Which way helped you remember the information better?
• Did one method help people understand or think critically better?
• Did either method prompt associations or visualizations that aided memory recall?
• Were there any differences in how much you learned or how well you understood between the two ways?

Through this process of individual testing, you can find out for yourself if taking notes by hand or using online apps is better for your memory. Write down what you have noticed and what you have learned so that you can improve how you take notes in the future.

It is important to keep in mind that a single test may not be as thorough or complete as a controlled experiment with a larger sample size. But it can still give you useful information and personal preferences about how to take notes.

The Takeaway

Note-taking apps like Evernote, Notion, and Obsidian are great for storing, organizing, and referencing information, but they do not do much to improve memory or get you to think more deeply.

Writing notes by hand and on paper helps with understanding, critical thinking, remembering, and being creative. Handwriting requires active participation, which improves understanding and makes it easier to remember things. This makes learning more effective.

Learning to write by hand is a useful skill in many contexts, not just transcription. It allows for creativity, exploration, and self-expression. Writing by hand helps us retain information, communicate our thoughts and feelings, and gain insight into past and present experiences.

Writing notes by hand on a physical notebook has significant advantages over using note apps for studying, and these advantages are especially important when trying to master difficult material. We can maximize our potential as learners by striking a balance between the ease of digital tools and the cognitive benefits of handwriting.

Let me know what you think.

I’m interested in topics and trends that intersect cognitive psychology, meta-learning, behavioral economics, and technology. I also run a venture focused on innovation and commercialization of services that lifts humankind and heals our planet. If you have a big idea, visit me at signetscience.com .