Imagine ten years from now, it could be quite feasible that children wouldn't be taught handwriting at school and would just learn to type.

Would that be such a bad thing?

Yes, it would.

You might argue that typing is better, because it's easier to do and easier to read. But the reason that handwriting is harder is exactly why it's so important.

As most people can type significantly faster than they can write, it's like taking verbatim notes. But the trouble is, you're not being forced to think about what you write.

When you take notes by hand you can't write everything down. This means you have to think about the “essence” of what's being said.

Writing by hand actually uses more of the brain, as you need to make several strokes for each letter. Your working memory gets activated, as well as brain areas used for thinking and language. On a keyboard, one tap creates an entire letter, so your relationship with making the letter is shorter and more superficial.

The more areas of the brain that are firing, the stronger connection is between the content of what you're writing and your brain; therefore the more you'll be able to remember later on.

Now you might argue that surely it's better to take more comprehensive typewritten notes at a meeting, conference or lecture and then review and distill them at your leisure. But research has proved otherwise.

The Pen Is Mightier Than the Keyboard

Research by Pam Mueller of Princeton and Daniel Oppenheimer of UCLA has shown that students who write their notes on paper actually learn more.

Across three experiments, Mueller and Oppenheimer had students take notes in a classroom setting. They then tested students on their memory for factual detail, their conceptual understanding of the material, and their ability to synthesize and generalize the information.

Half of the students were instructed to take notes with a laptop, and the other half to write out their notes by hand. As expected, the students who used laptops took more notes, but in each study, those who wrote out their notes by hand had a stronger conceptual understanding of the subject they'd listened to. They were also found to be more successful in applying and integrating the material compared to those who took notes with their laptops.

Even when the students were given the chance to study their notes for a test a week later, those who took longhand notes still outperformed laptop note takers.

And to prove it's better to take handwritten notes whatever the subject, the lectures covered a varied range of topics from faith, respiration and economics, to algorithms, bread and bats.

So if you are ever in need of information about the lesser dog-faced fruit bat, there will be a Princeton student who writes notes by hand who will be able to help you.

When you type notes you are writing down what is being said. When you are hand writing notes you are re-writing. It forces the brain to engage more and therefore creates a stronger memory of the subject matter.

Because longhand notes contain your own words and handwriting, they may serve as more effective memory cues by recreating the context (thought processes, emotions, conclusions) as well as content (individual facts).

The other huge benefit of taking handwritten notes is that you can't be distracted by the lure of the Internet. It has been found that students using laptops spend as much as 40% of their time using applications unrelated to their course work.

Just because something's faster, it doesn't necessarily mean it's better. As with all things brain-related, the more you engage it, the better the results.