Asklemmy

1. a notebook and pencil in my shirt pocket are faster to open than a phone app

2. handwriting is faster than thumb typing

3. I can sketch an electrical diagram on paper way faster than anyone can with a stylus on some janky phone screen.

3.1) Even if there was a stylus/screen combination with the same haptics, fidelity, and input recognition speed as pencil on paper, it wouldn't be 0.78€

4. I can toss the notebook and diagrams to anyone working on a project with me with zero worry that they'll drop it, forget it, or look around in the rest of it

5. I can tear out a page and hand it to anyone instantly, instead of finding out what messaging app we have in common, copying (or screenshotting) the note and pasting it in an app

6. I can insert a note into a physical book, stick it to the inside of a toolbox lid, a wall next to an electrical junction, inside a breaker box, or any other surface, and always have location-aware reminders waiting for me when I need them.

7. With minimal environmental control, my notes are effectively immortal. I have notebooks of measurements and diagrams of most rooms, wall cavities, pipe runs, electrical runs, cable pulls, and dimensions of various equipment that have outlasted hard drives, backup tapes, and a few cloud storage companies.

I’ll answer with a simple test. Do the following first on your phone and then on a piece of paper:

Design a thing, something physical; a box, a house, a chair, whatever. In addition to the diagram, this note must include a description of the item, the bill of materials, the dimensions and, if applicable, assembly instructions that you could confidently hand to someone else and have them follow. Ideally, you should include the dimensions of the object directly on the sketch itself.

Now give this to someone and see how accurately they can reproduce the item while you go off and make a phone call.

I can't rely on a piece of electronics that might run out of battery, bug out, etc. Note taking on paper is much faster, you can draw anything with any sort of layout, it's completely free form. Of course it depends on your needs. I know I sketch down a lot because of my line of work, that may not be the case for everyone.

Because i can scrawl a note faster than opening an app and typing, and i can organise a notebook with a lot less fuss.

Dont need to charge a piece of paper

My handwriting is the perfect encryption. Nobody else can understand it. Lol.

Yep. My little Field Notes books don’t send me notifications about emails, and I can toss them around without breaking them. And use a lot of notation and drawing methods that are very slow when typing with my thumbs.

my notepad/book/paper doesn’t run out of battery and doesn’t lose reception …

EDIT: and my book will last longer than your cloud service

EDIT: and you remember stuff better by writing it down

At home I take notes on the computer. Timestamps, instant sync across devices, whatever editor I like to use, et cetera. If I get a random call and someone starts talking at me, I'll settle for scribbling on a fast food receipt if it is close to hand. I use my phone sometimes, but I generally take notes when I'm on a phone call.

When I'm at an in-person meeting with a client, pen and paper is the best option because it conveys some degree of respect. People still seem to be put off by people pulling out a laptop and typing during an emotionally charged meeting. If I pull out my cellphone and start poking at it in a professional setting, people don't think that I'm listening or taking notes. They think that I'm bored.

With so much note taking apps nowadays, I can't understand why someone should waste time to find their smartphone, power it on, input the pin for the sim, unlock the screen, find the right app in the app jungle, open it, find the "new note" option, which is hidden in a sub menu instead of using a short cut on your keyboard to bring up a terminal, which opens Vim and automatically saves the file as a note with the correct file name.

For those of you that do, join us at !fountainpens@wayfarershaven.eu :)

Yes, usually when in meetings. It's 99% a society/conventional thing, but looking and typing on your phone while talking to someone will often be perceived as rude. Taking notes in your paper notebook though usually will come off as being attentive and interested.

I used to have my shopping list on my phone. Replaced that by a whiteboard on the fridge, which is much less cumbersome to use (seriously, typing on a phone nowadays is almost worse than back in the T9 days). Before I go shopping, I just snap a picture with my phone.

Because I like small diagrams and schematics. Doing that in an app, especially on a phone, is tricky. And I find that structuring my thoughts on paper just works better than doing it digitally straight away.

Yes, I do.

I enjoy handwriting and it is much faster for me. I like to have a couple of different coloured pens and have it organised. Usually I just end up with a scribbled mess but that is okay. At least only I can read it. If I need to I will type it up afterwards - I love typing as well.

Taking notes with pen and paper is more effective for information retention. I frequently keep a bullet journal to help me stay in the moment and on task. I don't digitize it because I find it to be a waste of time. I want to take my notes and then turn them into action. Turning them into a digital blip in a database is me faffing about not taking the action

Writing with a pen is still more intuitive for me than typing, so I automatically grab a piece of paper and jot it down. Especially while talking to someone.

But I do use note taking apps a lot for more permanent things.

Pen and paper don't need batteries. I'm pretty sure I can whip out my notepad faster than you can unlock your phone and open the notes widget.

Yes, when i need to concentrate

I use many methods to collect and organize information. I take pics on my.phone, write notes on my phone, write outlines on my laptop, write notes in a notebook, and write post it notes for me or others. All are appropriate at various times.

I do both, and it’s heavily dependent on what the purpose of the note is for.

I keep a yellow legal pad and mechanical pen. Stuff that goes on the pad are usually the ultimate in throwaway notes. Scribbles that are wholly transitory.

Then I have a digital note management system (Obsidian.md) and use it to maintain a personal journal and Zettelkasten.

Some yellow pad notes might flow into Obsidian, but not always.

flowchart, brainstorming and drawing is always good with p&p

I do. Its much easier

I prefer pencil, but yes, I find it faster and more freeform, and more portable to take initial notes on paper.

I always have a notepad next to me while working. The notes on paper somehow guide my workflow.

Yes. It's faster and it doesn't end up getting lost on my phone or PC somewhere. I can also leave a page open on my desk if it's something I tend to forget (currently German prepositions).

A note that's pinned to the wall is harder to overlook and forget.

That being said, my note-taking app is set to start automatically when logging in, so I'm always aware of its existence. Wouldn't work otherwise.

yes, there is music in the sound of pen across paper and magic in the scratch of a pencil. I still use my phone to take quick notes but I love the sound and feel of paper.

I use a mechanical pencil. Pentel 205 for life baby.

For anything I'll need to share or search, digital.

Everything else, I remember it better if I commit handwriting to it, and I use fountain pens, it's a nicer experience.

I do a mix -- paper is for thinking, digital is for long-term saving.

I'll use paper (nice paper and a fountain pen, ideally) for a quick brain-dump, mind-mapping, planning out my week, figuring out the shape of a solution. There's something about working on paper that spatially makes more sense to me. I keep it all in a single notebook *usually A5 grid or dots like Leuchtterm 1917 or Rhodia webbie) so that I don't have loose pieces of paper. If I'm working or traveling, that notebook is in my bag.

Things that I need to remember land in Obsidian in cross-linked notes, usually tied together with a daily note. Some paper notes do land in Obsidian - that can be a photo/scan, but more likely a cleaned up, summarized version of my thoughts.

Both, for different reasons. I use paper notes to stick them on my fridge so I won't forget about them.

I'm a millennial and I still write notes with pen and paper simply because I can't be bothered to learn how to format in a notes app of any kind.

All of my notes are formatted in a bizarre way that makes sense to me. Applying that format in a digital space is always a giant headache.

I am switching to using Obsidian. Skipping the formatting all together and instead linking all my disjointed ideas to each other seems to be working pretty well.

During meetings, I find it easier to follow the discussion if I'm making notes on post-its or a notepad rather than digitally.

For longform notes, research etc I prefer to use a wiki program like Obsidian and a mindmap or diagramming tool. I will rarely sketch ideas on paper but being able to rearrange the shapes on digital canvas makes it great for whiteboarding as a software engineer.

Sometimes i need to hand info to someone, or paper is just nearby, or i need to draw a diagram.

I do have an ipad, but if you are brainstorming with other people, they don't always know how to use it/touch the wrong thing.

All other notes are digital, because i am bad at keeping track of pieces of paper.

So I have this OCD thing where I just have to have a perfect order of things to do, I'm talking about things like what to watch, what to read.

It's helpful for me to list them all on paper cuz the excel app on my phone sucks and we have load shedding where light goes every 2 hours a.ccording to schedule and comes back after 2 hours.

I do both. I use Obsidian to maintain lots of notes and links and such. But I also carry a fountain pen and a notebook in my pocket. I find when I write stuff down in there I tend to remember it more. I also carry an A5 notebook at work to take down work notes and track my todo's. More productive, looks better in meetings, and I'm less likely to get distracted by notifications or the draw of apps/social-media.

Lots of times I'll do a drawing of dimensions or an idea, then I'll take a picture of that and throw it in Obsidian later. Also if it's a note that I want to keep later I'll transcribe it into my digital notes.

I just enjoy the act of writing and getting to own a pen that I won't just lose or loan away. I'll also pick up old notebooks sometimes and be reminded of things I wanted to do or ideas I had that got missed, and the reminder is way more tangible and impacting that being reminded by found digital notes. It comes with the tactile memories as well.

I use sticky notes at home, and write by hand in an actual notebook when hashing things out. I also take notes in a text editor, though.

Yep. I get distracted with my phone. I doodle on my notes. I enjoy writing in cursive, it's so loopy! I like pens, they're neat!

I also do bullet journaling, but not very strict to the original style. I just draw my own little boxes.

I'm 53. Never got the hang of typing fast on the phone, so whenever I'm in a meeting and not having my laptop with me, it's pen and paper for me. 🙃

Yep.

Yes. It's faster, I have an easier time remembering stuff that I wrote by hand instead of using a keyboard, I can't be arsed to use a phone most of the time, and I can even apply some primitive "encryption"* to keep a certain overly curious person around me from messing with my notes. I can also use them when I'm designing writing scripts for constructed languages, way faster than doing it in Inkscape.

The big con is that one of my cats thinks that paper is toy, and the other thinks that any large enough sheet is a bed.

*it's just Italian with ad hoc Cyrillic. Good enough for handwritten notes.

I pretty much only take notes with pen&paper. Never really thought about doing it otherwise. Seems like it would be much more inconvenient on my phone since I don't thumb type and I hate laptop keyboards.