this post was submitted on 18 Sep 2025
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Title is misleading:
The second sentence contradicts the first:
then
So basically he's not taking a laptop in to the lecture hall to take notes etc but is still using a computer to complete his work. Which makes sense as pen & paper in that environment is way more practical anyway.
Maybe he's lugging a massive typewriter around.
I've got images of the lecturer giving him death stares every time he starts typing, filling the room with the cliter-clatter of the keys.
It's great because it's audible when the lecturer can continue or when not takers are still catching up.
that is hipster
mayb he takes notes with a quill and ink. Dab..dab..dab...
Studies have also shown that taking notes by writing causes better learning outcomes compared to typing.
That's only true if you don't refer to your notes. Reviewing notes has a much stronger correlation to remembering than how those notes are generated.
I had a math teacher in highschool that allowed us make a "cheat sheet" during tests -- it had to be hand written on an index card. I discovered that if I actually made a "cheat sheet" I rarely needed to look at it. It's the same for hand-written lists when I'm shopping.
For a lot of people there's something about actually writing information down (by hand) the makes it "stick" better in memory.
And there are studies about just that. However, when you review your notes, it matters a lot less what method you used to create the notes.
If you're unlikely to actually study your notes, handwriting is better. If you're likely to study them, use whatever is most convenient for studying.
Yeah, and just handwriting notes in class and expecting to not have to study and remember everything is only going to work for classes that aren't information dense. Expecting to do that for classes like physiology or anatomy isn't going to work unless someone has amazing memory.
Not many people who would be able to list all the proper nerve and muscle locations and body mechanisms just because they sat and handwrote their notes or whatever. At a certain point few remember and it comes heavily down to studying outside of classes, and having good notes that can be referenced to make study material off of is what makes the difference.
For rote memorization, sure.
I'm more talking about conceptual things, say, in math. You don't need to memorize it, but you do need to remember how it works. For that, I find the textbook to be the most helpful, and class time is to help understand the textbook. For that type of thing, I don't need to reference my notes in the future, I mostly need to pay attention in class and revisit the material again later to make sure I got it. Handwriting can help with that type of retention.
Math I put more on the side of not having to even need notes, but just understand the formula and it involves practice by doing different problems over and over so you can solve problems on exams. You can just skip class completely and solve problems from the textbook and be good to go. Math is more similar to like learning to do a jump shot and mastering it. Practice is the way to go.
So I don't put in the same category of classes that are less problem solving or less abstract concepts like philosophy.
Ones that are specific things that need to be recalled with little room for reinterpretation are ones where handwriting things isn't enough, since the answer is either right or wrong. So memorization outside of class is heavy requirement. There's just no shortcut to those type of classes and too much info to retain unless someone has a naturally great memory.
Can confirm, switched away from laptop notes to incomprehensible-to-others fountain pen writing. Writing is the important part anyway.
Wasn't the case for me for information dense subjects like biology related subjects. Found I didn't retain anything, but worst of all my notes were so messy I couldn't even use them, so ended up wasting time having to go back and listen to the lecture again to create notes I could study off of and make short summaries of to start memorizing.
Some exceptions to typing has been problem solving basic subjects like math where there's no rush to try to get down bunch of information, so for that I definitely go handwriting. Doesn't make sense to type that either. But, for really information dense subjects its typing all the way.
I have ADHD and didn't get diagnosed or medicated until after I was out of school.
I basically had two options: pay attention in class or attempt to take notes.
I had so many teachers in grade school complain I didn't take notes, or do homework but that was a different complaint. The issue was that when I took notes I would miss chunks of information as I was writing and my writing was basically illegible because I was trying to put it down fast. If I slowed down to make it neat I would miss even more information. So any notes I took would be next to useless and I wouldn't remember anything. And that's without even determining what I needed to write down.
Grade school was also slow passed and repetitive enough that most of the time I could sit and watch or doodle while listening and retain the information. Basically the only thing I struggled with was spelling because it was just rote memorization.
College was a bit harder in some cases beyond general ed, but for the classes I needed to study for I was able to re-watch the recorded lectures and take the time to write stuff out since I could rewind and pause.
I don't remember anything either whether I write or type. So it is important that I at least take good notes I can then study off of and make flash cards or practice. Only times I actually learned and remembered is for less information dense material like math that is centered around problem solving rather than information retention and regurgitation.
For me class isn't for remembering or learning. Just being exposed to material that can be used to study and understand outside of it.
I used to take my laptop into the lecture hall but I hardly ever actually used it.
Same. I mostly used it for homework between classes.
I found the most effective strategy for me was to do the reading before class, bring the book in to refer to, listen intently for things I didn't get from the book, and reread the section after class. If the professor specifically called out something to take notes on, I'd either do that on my phone or pull out my laptop (esp just before midterms or finals).
My handwriting is awful and I almost never refer to my notes anyway.
Exactly how does he research his essays without internet access?
Well you see he's stopped using the internet for his university work. But he still uses the internet for research for his essays.
All assignments are submitted electronically now, and if he's in philosophy, he will also have to follow formatting requirements like font, font size, margins, and spacing. Practically, he's doing as much as he is allowed off-computer.
Honestly I used to do the same a decade ago in engineering before changing majors mainly cause my laptop was a fucking brick.
They're still using computers to do their university work and submit it though. It's more about them not using a laptop in a lecture hall and using pen and paper instead. That's not really a big deal considering that's probably what most people were doing anyway up until relatively recently.
Yeah, the way he does it is basically how everyone did it even 10 years ago. The tools were mostly the same then as they are now, with the exception of AI and the fact that handwriting wasn't as big a thing anymore when today's undergrads were in school. If you have a fluid and moderately quick handwriting, paper notes will typically be easier to take and more useful for revising the material later on.