Asklemmy

I kinda meet in the middle and just digitally scan my handwritten notes. It makes for easier backups and still have all the benefits of writing paper notes

Writing on paper helps me to make sense of the chaos in my head.
I have a big notebook in which I write out a first draft of new projects in as neat a handwriting as I can manage. It takes time, but it helps me to order my thoughts into something more coherent. And while writing, my subconscious usually comes up with other points that I might have missed earlier.
I enjoy making my notebook look as nice as possible, using a ruler for lines and tables, adding little illustrations in the margins when idling, etc. I want it to be something I’ll keep after it’s full, because it’ll represent a big chunk of memories from my professional life.

Hi Steve! How are you doing?... Good!...No last night was great! , yes I'm in the office...I need to pick up the stuff for the birthday party? Ok no problem, can you send me the address? ...oh you driving, okay let me write it down... Hold on, I will put you on the loudspeaker so I can open my notes application... please don't say anything embarrassing, I have like 10 co workers around me... Uh-um...

Just on phone. They're not important notes though. Just random stuff. I don't even remember the context for 80% of that.

You get the idea.

Rarely. I usually have a laptop handy and I can type a lot faster than I can write. Even on my phone, I can swipe nearly as fast as a I can hand write. I occasionally hand write short notes, but mostly I use a pen to fill out receipts. And I love pens. :-)

Scratch notes all the time. I know I should keep longhand notes of my professional interactions, as they can be priceless legal records, but I've never been any good at it.

I do that for work, for instance when evaluating students and sharing my desktop, it is just more convenient and private to do it on a paper. Maybe also nostalgia plays a factor here, since even in uni not that long ago, I still used notebook and pen.

Here’s the biggest reason: we are evolved from savannah primates for whom the ability to make eye contact and hold it was a signal of “you can trust me, I’m not about to bite you.” Paper and pen don’t signal “I have decided to break this evolutionary/social contract” in the same way a phone or open laptop does.

I help mentor a lot of young people in early career and their generation with a phone is an excuse for an x-er/boomer interviewer to punt them waiting to happen. It’s career and comp limiting, right or no.

Also if one finds a taken note is missing something, contact the original party. A conversation that begins with: “you got me thinking about this more deeply and I think I may have missed something…” is the key to mentorship, advocacy, and growth.

In short from a transcoding of bits perspective, other media may be better. But for those they acknowledge human constraint and opportunity a nice notebook and (a cheap shill from me) a Lamy Safari medium nib fountain pen will do you quite well.

I write with pen and paper because its faster for me and it's much more tactile.

Yeah, but it's more like when I just don't have my phone or I'm at my desk and have a pen and paper more handily available than digging it out of my pocket. Most of the time, I use the phone. Especially since I can have my note app remind me about the notes.

Writing with a notepad is better for those who need to be freeform, want the ease of opening it up, and/or have privacy concerns (a phone of any security can be hacked, but a notepad can’t if you write in a code only you can understand, which can’t be done on a phone without an unlimited resource of special characters). As for reachability, it’s what you make of it.