This is an important topic.. and I am surprised that it has not come up in general discourse much sooner.

The article focuses on the stylistic aspects of handwriting. One that is of greater interest to me is the cognitive and experiential/learning/retention aspects of the handwriting experience.  It is certainly more interesting subject, to me.

Personally I find that when I use pen(cil) and paper... and sit away from the computer at least temporarily, I tend to
- write much better -- more comprehensive first time around without edits
- be more succinct
- enjoy the experience a bit more [although papers tend to accumulate all over the place]
- retain more of what I wrote
- retain the learning as well as the writing longer [i.e., better snapshot memory of page.. that stays much longer], and
- experience less and slower decay of learned knowledge.

Using the computer makes the words flow faster -- the computer helps my hands keep pace with the flow of thoughts a bit more -- and makes the edits easier.. but it is also easy to forget what I wrote [i.e., the writing experience is so brief that I confuse it with the thinking that precedes it]   {Now you know I have given this some thought before, LOL}

Good retention develops with some reading and writing interspersed with some life experiences that are not necessarily interrelated. The speeding up of the reading and writing does not help when you cannot speed up the rest of the life. e.g., I tend to retain less of what I read during the vacation (yes, at least one very serious stuff goes with me to vacation (otherwise, I cannot jumpstart life for a week! LOL)  e.g., We went to Myrtle Beach once when Hillary's Living History had just come out and I took the whole DVD set + note book to write learnings).  Note-taking is such an important aspect of reading and learning.. It doesn't matter if I toss the paper after I take down those notes; I will recall.  Not at all sure I can recall vividly what I wrote a while ago on the computer.

Let me know about your preference and your way of retaining information. This subject is of HUGE interest to me.  If you can zoom in on your short-term, medium-term and longer term retention, even better. Thanks.


-- Edited by Sanders on Sunday 2nd of August 2009 05:09:56 PM

I took the Living History CDs on a car trip with my youngest daughter and my husband.  What a treat!

 

As for handwriting, I love it for the psychological analysis!  You can tell a tremendous amount about a person from their handwriting.  I'll share one juicy "tell":  If the signature is significantly different from the body of writing, then the person hides their true self from the world.

As far as retaining information goes:  When I was in graduate school, and maybe before, I read everything twice.  That helped a LOT!  So I guess you would say I'm a "visual rememberer."

I love the "made" cards.  My parents have sent me some of those; I have one on my wall from a couple three Christmases ago.

As for handwriting and the signature:  Did you know Obama's signature has a line from top to bottom cutting through the "O" in his last name?  That would, according to handwriting theory - which I'm far, far from an expert on- indicate a very serious problem with his father.  Since his father abandoned him, probably wouldn't be too far from the truth.

 

Interesting topic.     

I tend to learn better when I have actually written it out on paper.  I kept detailed notebooks when I was in college.  I am currently working on another graduate degree and I find that I am returning to taking notes by hand and it seems to help.  I tend to have a photographic memory, so I try to take the “snapshot” in my mind of items that I need to know. 

My profession has me on the computer the majority of the day, so I am very comfortable with that aspect also.  When I need to write something, it is easy to pop open WordPerfect and type away.  It provides an easy way to edit my thoughts and to write professional papers.

With computers/technology, I do find it is way to easy for people to write something in haste and hit “submit”, when they really should not have been so fast on that “button”.  When writing something sensitive, I type it first, then I think about it carefully.  I use this method to sort out my thoughts (it is similar to counting to 1000 before speaking or something like that). 

My generation is not so much into sending cards and letters, and that is sad.  I have written correspondence with my very best friend and send Christmas cards each year to a few.  E-mail, blogs, and chat seem to be the normal now for correspondence. 

I am also a stickler for spelling, grammar, punctuation.  I know I make mistakes, everyone does.  But, it seems with the 24/7 news cycle, blogs, etc. more and more errors are occurring in writing as people strive to be the first one with the story, etc.  I don’t know, but this bothers me.  I am finding errors in our local newspaper . . . , so much so that I wonder if they even have a proofreader . . .  What will we be in the years to come?

From an early age, I have always kept a diary.  I just enter a few lines about the highlights of the day.  I also carry a camera with me if I see something interesting.  I love photography and graphic design.  It is just my way of documenting the day. 

As far as handwriting analysis, it has always intrigued me.  I even have a book on it on my bookshelf.  Would love to have more time to study it.

Just my thoughts.