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I don't really get how moving hands smoothly to write something versus tapping keys poses any large difference in memorization? For the us generations that grew

I don't really get how moving hands smoothly to write something versus tapping keys poses any large difference in memorization? For the us generations that grew up learning cursive and associating it with school it may be easier to remember that way, but if someone was raised by only typing from an early age it probably makes no difference. We're analog juvenoial dinosaurs living in a digital age we've only partially adapted to. > this incredible ability of our brain to learn concepts from the small movement of our hands, probably sculpted by our evolution There's no way that's true, it's only been around for 5000 years and for most of that time it was excluded to a narrow circle of scribes or scholars. Literacy has only been available to the masses for the past 200 years which is absolutely nothing on an evolutionary scale.

edgyquant 3y ago
How is this hard to get? One you tap a button that could contain any character or letter. The other is physically motioning said characters and you brain associates the underlying idea with the motions rather than a generic “tap.”
- moffkalast 3y ago
  Well the tap isn't necessarily generic, it's in a specific spot and usually by a specific finger associated with only a few letters. While handwriting is just wiggling your hand a bit for anything you write. We're sort of like LLMs in the way that we don't really see letters when reading anyway, we just see words or parts of words directly. I would expect writing to be the same conceptually. If anything I'd more lean towards having to form complete solid thoughts before writing them by hand could be beneficial, while typing lets you go back and correct or reword everything, making the overall memory of it fuzzier.
specialist 3y ago
I've long wondered too. "Intention" is the best notion I've come up with. With typing, I find it easier to enter a flow state. That stream of consciousness where it feels the prose (or code) seems to write itself. With handwriting, I must visualize what I'm about to write. Plan ahead. Think thru things. This works for lists, writing letters, and even graphic stuff like design diagrams. I also must really pay attention when I'm taking notes during meetings and lectures. Otherwise, my mind will wander off and I'll miss the whole thing. So I often volunteer to take minutes when I want to fully participate. PS: Out of respect for u/jncfhnb, I'll add an explicit YMMV.
eternityforest 3y ago
Back in the day they would have done other stuff with their hands. Throwing spears, making cordage, carving driftwood into maps. Typing is insanely easy compared to handwriting, which is why I rarely touch a pen even though I probably should. Handwriting makes any activity into a slow laborious project, to the point where for me it would probably be the hardest part of a lot of things I do, if I were to involve paper. I assume that creates more immersion and prevents doing things on autopilot? I wonder, if typing was hard, like if we had two keyboards 10ft apart, and the computer required you to switch every 100 keystrokes, and the monitor was only visible from one, or if your phone only let you type while walking, how using that for notes would affect memory?

edgyquant 3y ago

How is this hard to get? One you tap a button that could contain any character or letter. The other is physically motioning said characters and you brain associates the underlying idea with the motions rather than a generic “tap.”

moffkalast 3y ago
Well the tap isn't necessarily generic, it's in a specific spot and usually by a specific finger associated with only a few letters. While handwriting is just wiggling your hand a bit for anything you write. We're sort of like LLMs in the way that we don't really see letters when reading anyway, we just see words or parts of words directly. I would expect writing to be the same conceptually. If anything I'd more lean towards having to form complete solid thoughts before writing them by hand could be beneficial, while typing lets you go back and correct or reword everything, making the overall memory of it fuzzier.

specialist 3y ago

I've long wondered too. "Intention" is the best notion I've come up with. With typing, I find it easier to enter a flow state. That stream of consciousness where it feels the prose (or code) seems to write itself. With handwriting, I must visualize what I'm about to write. Plan ahead. Think thru things. This works for lists, writing letters, and even graphic stuff like design diagrams. I also must really pay attention when I'm taking notes during meetings and lectures. Otherwise, my mind will wander off and I'll miss the whole thing. So I often volunteer to take minutes when I want to fully participate. PS: Out of respect for u/jncfhnb, I'll add an explicit YMMV.

eternityforest 3y ago

Back in the day they would have done other stuff with their hands. Throwing spears, making cordage, carving driftwood into maps. Typing is insanely easy compared to handwriting, which is why I rarely touch a pen even though I probably should. Handwriting makes any activity into a slow laborious project, to the point where for me it would probably be the hardest part of a lot of things I do, if I were to involve paper. I assume that creates more immersion and prevents doing things on autopilot? I wonder, if typing was hard, like if we had two keyboards 10ft apart, and the computer required you to switch every 100 keystrokes, and the monitor was only visible from one, or if your phone only let you type while walking, how using that for notes would affect memory?