With the plethora of writing devices, many agree that handwriting is of minimal essence as it slows ones writing pace and brings disparities in the fonts used. As much as this is true, you cannot discredit the beneficial aspect of writing on paper and reading in memory building.
Before you dump the stationery to the bin and pick the tablet in a bid to realize optimal writing speeds, here are some paper writing benefits you ought to consider. However, this information is not meant to place one over the other but to show the relevance of marrying the traditional writing mode to the modern counterpart marked with keyboards and touch screens.
1. Writing helps in boosting the cognitive value
According to recent research, writing on paper enables you to internalize concepts even more as opposed to typing. Given the slow nature of writing, you get more time to interact with ideas thus retaining concepts in your mind for a longer duration of time.
Since writing on paper requires you to understand topics before writing as opposed to typing which can allow for copy and editing, you get a better view of concepts and gives the brain ample time to relate with the ideas.
To maximize the retention of data, plan your content before writing thus achieving better flow and familiarizing with various components of your work.
2. Writing helps gain more focus and retain more information
With electronic devices for note taking, there are a lot of distractors ranging from messages to social media and games. With the writing on paper, however, you can rid yourself of the distractions thus channeling your focus and energy to the work at hand.
However, you may opt to research online before writing thus getting all facts at hand before embarking on the preparation of content. While at it, ensure that you rid yourself of distractive materials, therefore, harnessing your full potential and channeling it to your work.
3. Slower writing speed allows you to conceptualize ideas better
By indulging your brain in a specified activity for a longer duration of time, you absorb more information as opposed to fast typing.
However, ensure that you go over notes you have taken over and again to increase your understanding of the topics and easily retrieve needed knowledge.
4. Writing on paper helps in developing critical thinking
As opposed to printing and typing, writing by hand stimulates brain synchronism in both hemispheres of the brain, therefore, helping you muster all your thinking and comprehension abilities. Given the time consumed in writing on paper, the brain gets more time to understand arguments and come up with relations between relevant concepts.
5. Writing allows you to note mistakes you make often
With many writing processors, you can automatically correct errors as you type thus putting forth error-free content in terms of both grammar and punctuation. Although this is essential when it comes to landing jobs and getting credits in class, it deprives one the chance to hone their writing skills and identify their weak areas.
To buff your writing skills, frequently write on paper and proofread your work keeping in mind the areas you struggle with. To better the results, indulge in both reading and writing thus increasing your glossary and learning how to express yourself more eloquently.
6. Handwriting is an exercise for the brain
Since cursive writing indulges the cortex of the brain and helps with hand-eye coordination and multiple memory functions. A testament to the benefits of handwriting to the mind, researchers have cited the crucial role it plays in treating dyslexia as it trains the brain to familiarize with written letters more than reading and typing.
7. Writing on paper gives you a better vantage point for solving problems
Whether you seek to fix a real-life problem or a question that requires critical skills, writing it down and brainstorming for ideas proves of much essence. With handwriting, you can handle the planning phase easily and internalize concepts as you go about the process.
8. Writing on paper keeps you at bay with your writing skills as you age
Due to the exercise that handwriting offers the brain, you can retain cognitive ability as you age thus collapsing the chances of suffering from dyslexia by a significant margin.
9. Writing on paper gives you confidence in preparing handwritten documents where needed
Depending on the firm you work in later in life, some materials require to be handwritten before getting delivered to the next level of management. With good handwriting, you can pass messages along with clarity and also make it easy for the next person to decipher the message.
Without handwriting practice, it may prove daunting to write in clarity or even write as fast as required to reach optimal performance. In the case of written exams, you can score better marks as you can organize content in a manner that the lecturer can read through your paper with clarity.
10. Eye-hand coordination
In some cases, kids suffer from eye-hand discoordination thus may appear to be clumsy or even slow. Fortunately, this situation can be fixed with typing as it indulges the brain and induces coordination among neurotransmitters thus fine-tuning their reflexes and bettering the health of the brain over time.
Handwriting vs. typing? What way to go?
Although handwriting has its set of benefits, it does not imply that typing is evil. To bring about growth in your brain and increase the speed of delivery, alternate between writing on paper and typing thus becoming all rounded in all writing methods.
When going about handwriting, ensure that you get a comfortable brand of pen to avoid callousing your fingers and bettering your writing. For more such tips, please check this section.
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