Heard a kid say 'why write it down when I can just type it' and it hit me hard

I was at a coffee shop last Tuesday and this teenager told his friend he'd never written a story on paper, just notes apps and google docs. Made me think about how much the feel of writing has changed, anyone else miss the scratch of a pen on real paper for first drafts?

2 comments

2 Comments

logan_schmidt2d ago

Read an article once about how hand writing activates different parts of your brain than typing does, something about fine motor skills and memory retention. There's a certain flow you get with a pen that just doesn't happen on a screen... the way your hand moves across the page feels more connected to the words coming out. Typing always feels a bit too fast and clean for me, like I'm skipping over the rough edges of an idea. First drafts on paper have this messy, real quality that helps me think better.

logan_schmidt2d ago

The whole "too fast and clean" thing really got me. I started doing my lesson plans on paper again last year, just rough outlines in a cheap spiral notebook, and it made a huge difference in how I actually develop the ideas before typing them up later.