Thought processes

[Alacrity59]

All my life I've written things down as I've been in lectures and meetings etc. I enjoy nice writing instruments and nice paper.

For me, writing things down gets the information into my mind. I rarely go back to my notes. And sometimes when I do it seems as if someone far more intelligent than me wrote things down.

Does anyone else have this experience with pen/pencil ink and paper?

 

[Slivovitz]

It varies. Years ago, when I was in high school and college, I found it most beneficial not to write too much during lectures, but to listen and absorb. I did take notes, but only when I sensed that memory and reviewing the text might not be enough.

Now, not being in any formal course of study, new information comes to me in a scattershot sort of way, and I often note things that I've learned in my diary. I try to make a particular point of it when I find that I've been wrong about some factual matter for years. There are index entries for pages in my diaries that I think I might want to return to, but I suppose I don't do so very often. I'm not sure whether writing things down fixes them in my memory, but in theory it can help me check my memory later.

I also find that when I'm trying to work something out for myself, writing things down, arguments for and against, helps keep my thoughts organized. Whether I make better decisions or develop more reasonable opinions in the end is another matter.

 

[ajkel64]

When I was at school I found that writing things down helped me to retain more information. I probably should start doing that again as I keep forgetting dates and things that I never used to when I would write things onto paper.

 

[OldGnome]

I am a project manager. The argument could be made that I facilitate meetings and write reports for a living. Many of my colleagues use Microsoft’s OneNote, but I stick to a Leuchteurm notebook. I still use a pen and write my notes. I have a collection of old notebooks that goes back nearly ten years - on of the advantages to taking notes that way.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[martym]

I’m a doodler!!
I close my eyes during lectures/speeches, listen, visualize what’s being said, and doodle!
Often, phrases and key words are discovered within the drawings/doodles!!

 

[Frozenshades]

Yes! I like writing things down, making notes, doodles, etc. Even if I don’t look back at it, it helps me remember things.

It was a struggle in veterinary school because while I had a tablet with OneNote and a stylus it wasn’t quite the same. But it quickly becomes a balancing act of if you can deal with hundreds to thousands of pages of notes with the absurd volume of information. I also have hyperflexible wrist joints and am prone to tendonitis, so there’s only so much I can write at a time. 2-3 hour written exams for pathology were my kryptonite...

I guess for day to day I like picking up the pen. For heavy duty recording I have a hard time keeping up without help from technology.

 

[Raissermesser]

I had to also rewrite my notes to make it stick. This served as studying. I originally did so to make sure my hastily jotted down notes were legible, then found rewriting them helped me to retain the information.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

I think writing down what you have heard, reaffirms the memory several ways.

Olfactory memories are widely spoken of as the longest lasting memories, and beyond that some people may be stronger with visual memory, auditory memory, or kinesthetic memory. I tend to be stronger with auditory and kinesthetic memories than with visual or olfactory, but the more different types of memory you have, the easier something is to recall.

Writing something down that you heard, then reading it through, takes an auditory memory, and reinforces it with visual and kinesthetic memories. Not only did you hear it, but you saw it, and created it with motion.

If I write a shopping list, and forget to take it shopping with me, sometimes I can recall the important items by staring into space, holding an invisible pen to an invisible pad, or pretending to write on a cereal box or something, and "writing down" the items I've. This can jog the memory as to what I wrote next, better than trying to visualise the list or remembering the auditory or visual cues which led me to writie it down in the first place. This particularly works if you write it down shortly before leaving, so if you have a white board that you add to gradually over a week, write down the key items again in your note pad before you leave.

Obviously it would make life a lot simpler to remember to take that list with me, but I get distracted sometimes

 

[tankerjohn]

I work in one of those ostentatious big government buildings in Northern Virginia that doesn’t allow cell phones or electronic devices, so everybody takes handwritten notes in meetings and video conferences. Most, including me, even write notes sitting at their desk where they could at least type into a computer; it’s just part of the culture. It must appear quite the throwback to anyone in the private sector. For me, fountain pens are kind of like wetshaving - writing notes is something I have to do anyway, so I might as well have fun with it.

 

[OldGnome]

I remember a fountain pen being required for second (third?) grade at the parochial school I then attended. This would have been around 1964. I remember getting watery blue ink all over my hand (I’m a southpaw) and butchering the cheap nibs in the cheap pens we bought. It took me until I was well into my fifties to find the pen and notebook combination I have today. Leuchteurms (they’re like Moleskeins) and very fine point (.05, I think) black gel pens. They are at the other end of the house, or I would have the make and model in an instant (it’s been a long week).


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[tankerjohn]

I remember a fountain pen being required for second (third?) grade at the parochial school I then attended. This would have been around 1964. I remember getting watery blue ink all over my hand (I’m a southpaw) and butchering the cheap nibs in the cheap pens we bought.

Oh that’s funny. My dad said the same thing! He said the nuns insisted that ballpoint pens ruin proper handwriting so they made all the kids use fountain pens.

 

[John Rose]

At least 5 days out of the week SWMBO and I spend an hour at our favourite cafe. She reads or writes, and I write a sort of stream-of-consciousness thing in an 8"x5" notebook - to-do lists, what I'm seeing out the window, the cafe's Word of the Day, ideas for projects, thoughts about movies Ive seen or books I've read, doodles, etc.

And simple swashy divider lines to separate topics, like these:

I'm too lazy to tackle the fancier ones:

They're great fun to throw in.
I have a favourite that I devised, but have not scanned it.