Recently, The Economist has highlighted why we should handwrite more.
We all use more than ever laptops and tablets to learn and write. Long are the day when I translated by messy notes from class, in neat handwriting pages while studying.
However, studies are showing handwriting has many benefits, including:
- Improving memory
- Better understanding of concepts
- Increased ability to summarise information on your won words.
But why is that? Handwriting obliges you to slow down…
You have to engage your memory and absorb the knowledge in order to write it down. By going slower, you actually learn faster and better.
Handwriting also engages both the motor system of hand and arm, and the sensory system of seeing the words being drawn on paper. This engagement, reinforces the material that is being written, making it easier to recall.
In a world where we spent our days typing, we have to remember there is a place for everything. You want to be sure your writing is readable or sharable on an essay or a message? Go ahead a type it. But if you want to commit something to our memory and understand it, better reach for the odd piece of paper.
For further reading on handwriting, don't miss the beautifully written "Handwriting: an elegy", also from The Economist.