Commentary: Ditching note-taking apps for old-fashioned pen and paper could do us good

A study conducted in Frontiers in Psychology examined the head activity between those taking notes and those browsing. It found that those taking information by hand had higher levels of communication between the various brain regions, which is required for memory formation and the processing of new information.

Co-author of the investigation, neuroscientist Audrey van der Meer, speculated that those taking notes on computers were typing without thinking.

” It’s very satisfying to type down everything that the teacher is saying”, she said. ” It kind of goes in through your ears and comes out through your fingertips, but you do n’t process the incoming information”.

Personal teaching tools even come with distractions. According to a study conducted by US researchers, university students who use devices in intensive lecture halls just spend 34 % of their time taking notes and 20 % of their time on social media websites.

Other research found that students perform better on tests when notebooks are not allowed in school, and that having several pages open in browser windows adversely affects attention and memory.

EXERCISING THE Head

So here’s a reassuring sarcastic note to spread to individuals who lost their information in the Mobile Guardian event: spending the next few months creating a new set of revision notes may help you succeed on your examinations.

You may wish to acquire a “divide and conquer” method. Obtain a few friends and decide which subject to study records. Set a date, finally make copies of those documents for one another.