Enhance Cognitive Skills Through Digital Writing: Mastering the Art of Keeping Your Mind Sharp

Key Takeaways

• Handwriting might lead to better brain connectivity compared to typing.
• Writing/drawing by hand may positively affect memory and cognition.
• Use a stylus, writing pad digitizer, or smart pen to bring back handwriting into your daily life.

I haven’t seriously written anything by hand since high school, but there may be entire generations of people today that have gone through life with little need to ever put pen to paper. It turns out, that might mean missing out on some brain benefits. Maybe we can use the tech that reduced handwriting, to bring it back?

The Benefits of Handwriting According to Science

The reason this whole idea came to me was thanks to a great research roundup article I read in Scientific American . In the piece, Charlotte Hu recaps several studies that have shown various benefits that come from handwriting.

One study suggests that handwriting leads to widespread brain connectivity when compared to typing. “When writing by hand, brain connectivity patterns were far more elaborate than when typewriting on a keyboard…”

Hu’s article goes on to note several other studies that seem to support the idea that writing or drawing by hand has a positive effect on memory and cognition. Now, as is almost always the case with studies like these, it’s debatable whether the methodologies and conclusions drawn are really properly scientific and replicable, but I do think there’s still something just so stimulating about actually writing and doodling things.

Maybe it’s my chronic 5000-word-a-day typing habit, but let’s assume there’s something to this whole handwriting thing. If you want to go back to making those glorious chicken scratches, there are a few tech-supported ways to do it.

Using a Stylus

Apple

I have been a fan of the (now sadly defunct) Samsung Galaxy Note phones for years. My current S22 Ultra may no longer have the Note name, but its integrated stylus is still an important feature for me. When I still had an in-person office job, I much preferred to use my phone to jot down the odd note during meetings and even make a hand-drawn doodle, table, or mnemonic.

So that seems to be the logical place to start. If you have a phone or tablet that supports using a stylus, there are many options. For iPad owners, the Apple Pencil is the best option. If you’re an Android user, and you’re not using one of Samsung’s devices with proprietary stylus support, then something like the Adonit Dash 4 might be just the ticket. It doesn’t have to be a smart stylus either. If you don’t care about pressure sensitivity or fancy features, there are many dirt-cheap “dumb” styluses that are just fine for writing down notes.

Use a Writing Pad Digitizer or Smart Pen

reMarkable

If you find writing on a touch screen to be a little weird, there are some alternatives if you still feel like digitizing your writing. For example, Livescribe pens record everything you write on paper as a digital copy. So you can just write as normal and get your notes or writing later.

A really simple solution (that doesn’t let you save your notes) is a reusable digital writing pad, like the Boogie Board . It’s essentially just an LCD whiteboard, but it’s one way to encourage a little manual writing. Even if it’s just the to-do list on your fridge.

If you’re flush with cash and want something that feels like paper, but also syncs your notes to the cloud, then the reMarkable 2 tablet is a pretty interesting choice. Though you can pretty much get an entry-level iPad and Apple Pencil for similar money, and then put a paper-like screen protector on that.

Using the Right Apps

While, for many people, just keeping the handwritten notes is enough, if you want to use what you’ve written with apps like word processors, you need to get a handwriting recognition app. With some of the products I mentioned above, that software is included, but you probably already have access to this technology without even knowing it.

For example, Microsoft OneNote has handwriting recognition built in as a feature. Adobe Scan is another option, where you can use your smartphone camera to turn your paper notes into PDFs. Pen to Print also promises to convert handwritten scans to text. You can even throw photos of your handwriting at AI apps like ChatGPT , and have them take a crack at it.

I’ve always enjoyed taking notes with my S-Pen on my Samsung devices, or grabbing my Apple Pencil and iPad to do some scribbling, but the prospect of this actually being good for my brain definitely tickles my fancy. Even if it doesn’t boost your faculties in any noticeable way. it’s still just so satisfying.