Why it’s better to take notes by hand

In a study published earlier this year in Psychological Science, researchers at Princeton University and UCLA found that while computers might help you write more notes quickly, they might keep you from actually absorbing the information you write, even when you’re not switching between tabs to check your email or scroll through Facebook.

“Our new findings suggest that even when laptops are used as intended — and not for buying things on Amazon during class — they may still be harming academic performance,” lead author Pam Mueller of Princeton University said in a statement.

Why do hand-writers have an advantage? For the study, researchers asked students to watch TED Talks and take notes either by hand or on a computer disconnected from the Internet. After completing distraction tests, the students were then asked to take quizzes on the material covered in the TED Talks. While students in both groups did equally well when it came to factual questions, those who took handwritten notes had a much better conceptual understanding of the material.

“It may be that longhand note takers engage in more processing than laptop note takers, thus selecting more important information to include in their notes, which enables them to study this content more efficiently,” the researchers wrote.

So while computers allow you to write down every word that comes out of your professor’s mouth, they won’t necessarily help you synthesize and digest what’s being said, whereas hand-writers intrinsically understand what is actually important and needs to be remembered. And that can help you make better use of your knowledge in the long run.

Published in collaboration with Mic

Author: Eileen Shim studied comparative literature and international studies at Yale University, and is currently a writer in New York.

Image: A picture of a woman writing. REUTERS/Catherine Benson