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From a recent issue of Wired:
Study after study shows we remember things better when we write them—our brain stores the letter-writing motion, which is much more memorable than just the mashing of a key that feels like every other key. We think in fragments, too, in shapes and colors and ideas that just don't come through on a keyboard. "Think about how many things that are built start as a drawing," Bathiche says. "Most things, right? Everything you're wearing probably started as a drawing."
You can't type out the folds of a dress, or the gentle curves of a skyscraper. Drawing with your stubby finger on a touchscreen isn't much better. Humans are tool-based creatures: Our fingers can do amazingly intricate things with a pen, a brush, or a scalpel, that we can't replicate with a mouse or the pads of our fingers. Our computers are giving back that kind of detailed control. In turn, the pen is opening up new ways of digital expression, new tools for communication, new ways to interact with our tech.
My wife's cousin's husband is a cartoonist for the New Yorker. He uses a high-end Wacom digitizer. Hasn't the problem of the high tech pen been solved?
Original Submission
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 09 2015, @01:22PM
In real life, I am valued for my ability to know how to do my job and come up with answers to technical problems, mentor others, and be a walking tome of archaic IT wisdom that I sometimes wish I don't remember-- without needing to superficially answer trivia questions provided by a teacher who then will rat on my parents that I didn't answer some manager's question in a meeting who was reading from a prepared list about what we were going to discuss in the meeting anyway. Speed is only a problem when something is broken, and being in IT, I am probably typing or talking during those situations.
In any event, I take notes on paper if I am in a physical meeting. A computer is far too distracting and one ends up hiding behind it, intentionally or not, or one is sometimes perceived as doing so (or worse, perceived to be taking notes on other people who weren't paying attention). When writing by hand, I do not write books/long sentences --I would miss too much of what is being discussed if I were to do so. I write slowly and my handwriting (even the printing) is not very legible to myself and for others. So, I write down what it is I think I will need to remember and provide some context.
In this way, if I ever bother to review the notes, I will recall what they were about (static notes can turn into useless information if the notes aren't any good).
I can type between 80-100wpm; I can clearly write a lot more by typing, but I remember what I am writing better if I make the concious decision to write something down that I deem to be important enough to remember. I have folders and files on my computer filled with notes of meetings past that I don't even recall attending. When I go through my pads of paper and notes, I frequently can recall who was there and what they were wearing--I participated more in those meetings since I did not feel compelled to record the meeting in writing.
But, as you said, we all learn differently, and the same process may not work the same way for everyone. Perhaps your need for speed is reflected in your adult life; in mine, speed helps but being correct or thoroughly detailed in my response is more important. No one expects me to take notes, but often they are glad when I did (and so am I), as it affects the final product of whatever it is I am expected to do.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 09 2015, @01:52PM
Speed was not my point, it was simply the reason my teacher was unhappy, which led to me discovering that I can't pay attention and take notes at the same time. I did well in subjects where I didn't take notes, simply by paying attention instead. Even though others were taking notes, because that's how *they* learn best.
I'm in IT too, and unlike you, I don't bring paper to meetings. Either someone else gets to take notes, or someone will take a photo of the whiteboard.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 09 2015, @04:49PM
It's all in HOW one takes notes. And I have been to many a meeting where only one person took notes, and there was a picture taken of the whiteboard - generally only the people who drew the diagrams on the board and took the notes actually remembered anything that happened in the meeting with any degree of high-level organizational structure.
Nobody can do your thinking for you, and it never hurt anybody's mental organization to use tools like notes (or, gasp, a computer).