We are currently in an age where most of our lives revolve around technology: social media, television and movies, communicating with friends and family, work and more. According to Dino Ambrosi, a guest speaker on TedTalk, a person with a 90 year life expectancy will have 334 months of free time. He also says that 312 of those months will be spent on screens. Do we really need to spend even more time on screens?
Being in class should be our time to focus solely on educating ourselves. Taking notes on a computer can lead to many distractions like texting, playing video games, browsing the internet and shopping, just to name a few.
Taking handwritten notes not only takes us off of our phones for a short period of time, but has also shown itself to have many benefits.
Studies taken by Scientific American show that taking handwritten notes engages students and increases memory intake. Researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology did a study on brain activity when taking notes on technology versus taking handwritten notes. Using electrode sensors connected to hairnets, 36 students were tested to see which form of note-taking led to more brain activity.
The result was overwhelmingly in support of handwritten notes. Writing by hand engaged “widespread connectivity across many brain regions,” according to Scientific American. Typing, on the other hand, had little to no effect on brain activity.
Everyone comes to college in order to pursue more knowledge and a better understanding of the world around us, and not putting in all of the effort that you can is actively working against that. Due to all of this, I believe that it is very important for people to take handwritten notes during class in order to actually be able to learn and understand.
rcassio@ramapo.edu
Featured photo by Kimberly Ventresca
