Opinion

Handwritten notes – my food for thought

10.9.2020

Translation: Jessica Johnson-Ferguson

I still right down thoughts and ideas in 2020. Sounds exotic, but comes with many advantages.

Armed with a ballpoint pen – ideally a Caran d’Ache – I apply light pressure to a piece of paper. Black letters take shape, turn into words and sentences. My hand feels every movement and executes every curlicue and squiggle. Thoughts spill out of my head and fill page after page. In today’s offices, where paperless working is an asset, I’m an outsider. An outsider who consciously uses paper. I take time to take notes far away from the aggressive light of a screen. My notepad has no tabs I can open, no social media that take up too much space on the screen and in my head. Writing down my thoughts makes me focus on that activity alone.

My mind’s switched on

Taking notes in a notepad helps me remember things and trains my memory. Writing by hand is exhausting because ever single letter is a consequence of the movement of my wrist. Milliseconds is all I have to decide what’s important and what isn’t. So I switch my brain on and rephrase things, as it’s the only way I can stay on the ball. Using a keyboard of a laptop is more relaxed but tends to turn into a transcription. This, in turn, has an effect on my memory and understanding of what I’ve written down. I may have managed to take down almost every single word on my screen, but I’ve no idea what it means. So writing by hand means I’m actively listening in the here and now instead of relying on electronically stored data.

What’s more, handwriting is both rationally and emotionally valuable. Personality resonates with every word written. There’s no Arial font size 11 everyone uses but letters that lean to the left or right, sometimes connected, sometimes alone. Everybody writes as they please. If I let somebody look at my notebook, they’ll immediately have an image of me as a writer, without having read the contents. Our handwriting is as individual as we are.

Quality before quantity

Equipped with just a notepad and a pen, I perceive my environment more consciously. My thin Moleskine book doesn’t block my view of the world. Behind my laptop monitor, however, I’m hidden and cut off, as if it were a wall. No need to look for my notes with «CTRL» + «F» in seconds. I want to take time to read through what I’ve written and search my head for context. I want to understand the notes and not only fill a hard drive with them.

Yes, I’m slower by hand than with touch typing on my PC keyboard. And that's the greatest advantage. Why does everything need to be a race against time? I’d rather consciously take my time and enjoy it. In a world where everything must be quantifiable and efficient, the handwritten note is almost a little protest. A choice to put the quality of the information before the quantity. My handwritten notes are like a stroll down a picturesque road, while the laptop disciples are racing down the motorway.

Do you still write by hand?

No way. My output is always digital.
10%
A shopping list at most.
14%
I'm always armed with a pen and paper.
77%

The competition has ended.

23 people like this article

Carolin Teufelberger

Editor

carolin.teufelberger@digitecgalaxus.ch

My life in a nutshell? On a quest to broaden my horizon. I love discovering and learning new skills and I see a chance to experience something new in everything – be it travelling, reading, cooking, movies or DIY.

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