Comment by chakspak

Comment by chakspak 5 days ago

I'm a software developer, so I type a lot. Typing is very practical for throughput and speed.

But I still make time for writing by hand. I find it to be very valuable, because it forces me to think differently about things and sit with ideas longer. I also find journaling almost impossible to do on a computer but very accessible in a notebook.

Writing by hand is also portable and adaptable. You can write on paper, surfaces, and signs. You can write when there's no power. No subscription is required, it doesn't require firmware updates, and it never has connectivity problems.

I can understand why some people would be willing to say goodbye to handwriting, but it's a skill that I'm extremely grateful for and I would be very sad to see it disappear from the world.

em3rgent0rdr 5 days ago

No constraints when writing. Not having to fit your thoughts into some predetermined format on the computer helps.

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grugagag 4 days ago

No editing either. Also no undo. I think this is forcing one to in memory buffer edit before putting it down on paper which is a good thing once learned.

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- dirkc 4 days ago
  
  When I use notebooks, I always leave the left page blank for corrections, future summaries or reflections.
  
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gigaflop 4 days ago

This echoes a lot of my own thoughts. I've taken to carrying a pen and small notebook around. At first, it was to help spend less time on my phone while eating out or something, and to keep track of all of those 'wow cool ideas' about building MTG decks, and 'what if' scenarios for a Pathfinder game I'm in.

Having all of the former pages on hand, made it so that I could cross-reference a current idea with one I'd already been sketching on some days or weeks back. I could see that I wanted to use the same card in 3 places, and then force myself to consider which one to put it in. I could sit and stare at something I'd written, and turn it over in my head, take a sip of my beer, and contemplate, "What are the motivations of this fictional character?"

I'd forced myself to start thinking more long-term. I ran a Pilot g2 down to about 1mm of ink remaining, filled the whole notebook out, got a new one.

It's a notebook with nothing important or classified, I regularly allow friends and family to scribble a page here and there, and have torn out a few bits to use as a kindling for a firepit with a faulty igniter.

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bayindirh 4 days ago

I agree. I still design my algorithms and software architecture on paper, and keep "lab notebooks" for serious projects.

I find it's beneficial for my memory, concentration and general brain fitness. Also, as a result, I write less code. What I write lands closer to optimal for the case at hand, so I debug and tune less.

All in all I enjoy designing software more and write better software at the end . Win-win.

Plus, fountain pens are nice.

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ErigmolCt 4 days ago

Paper's the ultimate offline mode

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trylist 5 days ago

I hate writing by hand the same way I hate walking through deep sand. It's extra effort for the same distance and I'm mentally way ahead of where I am physically.

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bayindirh 4 days ago

Why not try to refine what you have in your mind for a couple of cycles before putting it down to paper, or typing it out?
Mind likes to run in circles with scissors at both hands and hurt itself while trying to think fast. Teaching it to walk slowly results in clearer and more refined results.

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- watwut 4 days ago
  
  Not that person, but because there is an option to use a keyboard and easily edit, reread, reedir and again.
  As why go in circles in own head when I can be moving forward with keyboard.
  
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  bayindirh 4 days ago
  
  In this age of keyboards, cloud computing and AI, we think being fast is better. We lost our patience, and want everything instantly. However, there are some processes which needs time.
  Life is same everywhere. It makes the same trade-offs. Fast growing plants have less mass, they are less dense, and if they are edible, they're less delicious and nutritious.
  However, hard woods, strong plants and nutritiously dense foods grow slowly. It's the same for ideas, and human mind.
  When you let your brain draw circles on an idea, you start to prune its illogical parts. When you put a speed limiter with a pen, you force your brain to reconsider what it just said to you, and as a result, you get better, more refined ideas in less time actually.
  I have written elsewhere. I design my programs, their architecture and algorithms on paper, with a fountain pen. I keep lab notebooks. This allows me to refine everything before hitting my first key on the keyboard. I iterate less, produce more. The algorithms I design come out already refined to a certain degree, and when combined with architectural knowledge, their first iteration come out performant and efficient.
  Let me ask you the same question:
  Why bang my hands and head to a keyboard while trying to solve a problem while I can solve it with a cup of tea, a nice pen and paper and create elegant code in one go and enjoy all parts of the process, and spend less time as a result?
  
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  watwut 4 days ago
  
  > Fast growing plants have less mass, they are less dense, and if they are edible, they're less delicious and nutritious.
  I suspect you made that up. Mint grows fast and tastes great. Watermelon grows super fast and tastes super great. And plenty of slow growing plants are plain inedible.
  It is not even clear what you mean by "nutritious dense". But, my family used to grow both vegetables, fruits and even potatoes/herbs. Speed of growing and how nutritious or tasty they are does not seem all that much correlated to me.
  > When you let your brain draw circles on an idea, you start to prune its illogical parts.
  You will prune them even gaster and more reliably when you see own thoughts written.
  
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