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While I still hold a great appreciation for writing with pen and paper, I find I rarely ever do so anymore. I used to always carry a notepad and pen for writing self reminders, notes, or whatever came to mind. Writing by hand most definitely helps me to remember the content.

As time went on though, after numerous different schools putting me in typing classes (due to telling counselors my interest in computers, moving schools yearly, and a lack of CS curriculum), typing became the quickest means of writing for me.

I have taken to using a middle ground of sorts in that I use a stylus with my Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 for my note taking. It still helps me somewhat to better remember the contents, and the unfolded dimensions (5.04 x 6.23 in.) are not dissimilar to using a small notepad.

So, I really hate taking a laptop into meeting rooms so unless I know I'll have to share my screen I (used to) take an A4 sized paper notebook and a pen to jot down notes.

Recently I upgraded to a ReMarkable 2 which, while certainly not inexpensive, has so been worth it for me.

I do type pretty efficiently on one of my mechanical keyboards, but putting my thoughts into handwriting is a different experience entirely and I always want to retain this option especially for personal one-on-ones.

I’ve read that writing by hand helps commit things to memory better (not sure if that’s true or not). My wife and I will write each other cards by hand for holidays, and it’s very apparent to me how much I’ve learned to rely on auto correct for many things at this point. I’ve noticed how much less my brain is working when I am just texting. As others noted it’s also useful in certain fields to carry a notebook around for meetings or events rather than relying on a phone or a laptop. I’ve also noticed the longer I go without writing, the worse my penmanship gets.

I've gotten bad writers cramp within just a few minutes of writing since the 90s. Using the alternative pencil grip (where it rests between my index and middle fingers) helped me get through college, but I also opted for typing as much as possible. Now handwriting feels unnatural, to an extent.

I like writing and taking notes by hand. When I need to think something out I write it. I like this primarily because I can do things like add arrows, create bubbles, and create diagrams much easier and faster by hand than with a screen. I want to get an e-ink tablet at some point, but for now a paper and pencil/pen is cheaper.

Handwriting no. Waste of time.

Drawing the beginnings of a layout by hand, that makes sense and it's faster than trying to draw something with a mouse.

I hate the feel of writing on paper

Handwriting on screens also too slippery , unless you put matte screen protector , but that brings another issue : wearing pen nib down

I'm 100% a "both" person.

I take notes on my phone, especially if it's something I'll need on-the-go (like a grocery list). But I also write a lot of physical notes with pen and paper.

Especially for things like a remodeling project on the house - I can scribble out my thought process as I go, small ammendments with measurements or whatever as needed, etc. I prefer writing notes by hand, but there's no one right answer. For me, anyway.

When I bought my iPad Pro I imagined I’d have this thing filled with gigabytes of handwritten text but that’s not the case at all. It’s not even the feeling of pen and paper that makes not want to use the iPad… it’s the immediate access to write and read what I want, that only a notebook and pen can provide. The iPad is filled with other apps and distractions, it heats up when you rest your palm on it, there’s always this anxiousness of balancing brightness and battery life.

Also, with handwritten messages you can convey so much more that it’s impossible to do with typed text. You can determine how fast or how methodical the person was while writing. You can convey emotions by how much strength you use or by the size and kerning of the letters, and also, a lot of the personality traits of the writer are mirrored on their calligraphy.

And yes, typing with a keyboard is so much faster, which enables me to ramble, which I often do I and I just did.

It's simply untenable if I expect anyone else to read it. When I was in school I even had a 504 plan to avoid handwriting assignments and used an alphasmart for a while.

I used to be quite skeptical about this in the same way as the OP here. However, after teaching for a number of years I have seen anecdotal evidence that handwriting notes does help with retention of information. Taking notes by hand forces you to process the information in ways that typing (or, let's be honest..taking pictures or recordings) cannot. Basically, aside from the fine motor skills involved, the slower process of note-taking by hand forces you to actually think more about what you write, as you have to summarize more due to the physical process being less efficient. Too many students nowadays make the mistake that simply being familiar with, having digital access to, or simply recognizing a particular bit of information is the same thing as actually knowing or mastering the info. (Yes, I know....old man shakes fist at passing cloud...)

I will second the bit about fountain pens helping with hand cramps/writing fatigue and being less wasteful than other writing methods. Same with the advent of e-ink screens helping with the often cited example of digitized info contributing to eye strain.

Writing by hand definitely helps me a lot with learning and remembering things. When taking exams in school I would picture my actual notes in my notebook to remember things. That's just how it works for me I guess. However now if i need to jot down quick notes like a grocery list or something I'll just do it on my phone. Personally I enjoy pens and pencils and I wish I had more reasons to write things but I'm definitely no writer and I'm not into journaling so really the only writing I do now is for language learning.

I worked in database administration for years and currently work in a database admin adjacent role and the only things I type are on the internet, emails, data entry, and official/final documents and documentation. I much prefer handwriting for basically everything else - especially for note taking, typing is too linear and non-visual for the way I like to lay notes out with many sketched arrows, diagrams, etc. I also perceive my data to be much more ephemeral in a digital format unless I'm going through the trouble of making multiple backups which...why would I when I can just achieve the same thing with a pen and notebook that I just have to be physically careful with and know the material limitations of. I especially don't trust whatever note-taking apps du jour to have long-lasting reliable data retention, I mostly just use my phones note taking app for the occasional on the go grocery list.

To be fair though I'm one of the kinds of IT people whose knowledge of the field makes me less trustful rather than more trustful of anything that's, to me, technologically overengineered; and I also am already on the computer all the time for my job, so much prefer to be off of it as much as possible during my free time.

I don't see choosing to handwrite inefficient or pretentious. I see it as something familiar and that I enjoy because I have had a journal since my teens.

As a trained professional working with older adults, I also know that keeping up writing can help promote brain health. There has been plenty of research published on this, including that regular practice of reading and writing can help staff off onset of of dementia in older adults, so it's basically brain exercise.

That said, I write grants for work, narratives for our contracts and so forth, so I also appreciate that when under a time crunch I can bang out something fast on my keyboard after I have spent a little time drafting out initial ideas.

At the end of the day, I think a lot of this just depends on your views about writing in general (regardless of the tools you use); some people hate it no matter what they have to do on. Meanwhile, there are old gits like me that you have pry out of bookstores with a crowbar because after my scanning of the SciFi section, I get busy having too much fun snooping through the isles displaying leather journals and pots of fountain pen ink in goofy colours, and packs of stationary with cute designs. 😂

Pen or keyboard, it's all good.

https://youtu.be/u6qxixgQJ4M?t=12

I like writing things by hand. I don't do it because of the supposed brain activation, but I genuinely like the feeling of writing. That's most of it, honestly.

On a more practical note, I find that I'd rather have more organized information in electronic format, but writing by hand is much simpler for quick notes - so I'll usually jot down stuff I need to last a few days, meeting notes and such, and I might type those things out in a tidier manner if I feel like the information warrants it, if it's something I might need to come back to in a few months or years.

While yes, I technically do type faster than I write by hand, when I'm taking notes of something, I usually mix sentences with quick sketches and diagrams - and I can do that much faster by hand than using some sketching software.

I just like it. Writing with a fountain pen is much more HANDS ON than writing something down on a phone or (bad) laptop keyboards. Especially if your pen is higher quality. Although a nice mechanical keyboard can be quite nice (I like tactiles a lot).

The practical thing also is: If you keep your notes well organized, it can actually be much more accessible. I dunno, I have spent my entire life with PCs, but they feel "cluttered" so quickly and require so many revisions of organisation.

Having both is useful though, so I keep physical versions and scan them later to also have them digitally available AND not having to use those evil, evil printers who want me to buy more ink...

For me it's mostly the ease of it. I'm the type to get very bogged down by (perceived) steps, hurdles, and visual overstimulation. An illustration:

Notebook

• Find pen or pencil
• Find the page you need
• Go

Tablet/Etc

• Is it charged
• Specific pen only
• Keyboard needs pairing
• Is keyboard charged
• It wants to update now, awesome
• Turn it on, see ten unrelated apps --> forget what I'm doing
• App randomly decides it needs internet access
• Probably have to deal with syncing now
• etc etc
• (another 'me' problem: I get really hung up on trying to format things digitally, which takes time way from what I'm supposed to be doing)

Now, there are certainly benefits to writing things out digitally, especially when searchability is key. Any important info in any of my booklets that I might need to find later on gets typed up or entered into a spreadsheet where applicable. Not the most efficient way to do things, I suppose. 😅

In general though: I just like being able to look down and see a thing I've written, rather than needing to wake up a device, open a program, or otherwise fiddle with a screen, especially while multitasking.