---
title: Handwriting Notes Beats Typing For Retention
date: 2025-08-22T04:00:26.517287
author: Charlie M.
category: SIGNAL
---
The sunlight peeked through my blinds this morning, casting weird shapes on my wall. Again. And I just lay there, staring, wondering if I was supposed to be doing something more productive or if maybe those shapes were trying to tell me something. Or maybe it was just me looking for distractions to avoid getting out of bed. Could be both, actually. I finally dragged myself to make some coffee, my mind already spinning into a thousand different directions about to-do lists and the apps I swear I need to delete because all I do is scroll, scroll, scroll into an abyss of nonsense.
Anyway, as I was sipping the coffee, I remembered this study I stumbled upon a while back. Well, not remembered exactly because the details are foggy, but it was something about handwriting notes being better for remembering stuff than typing them. My friend mentioned it, I think, or maybe it was on Reddit. There was this percentage, like 34% better retention or something, which sounds like a lot in brain terms, right? This duo named Mueller and Oppenheimer, or something along those lines, apparently did some research on it. And they talked about, uh, encoding depth differences or whatever that means. It sounds deep, doesn't it? Encoding depth. Makes me think of a cavern, but for thoughts.
I’ve tried it, writing stuff by hand, carrying around a little notebook like I’m Hemingway or someone important. I mostly scribble shopping lists or sketch out workout plans I never follow. There's definitely something different about it—something tangible, like the pen grooves into the paper and into your brain. But is it really better, or am I just romanticizing the idea of being someone who actually uses a notebook, like in the old movies?
The whole motor memory thing is interesting too. Your hand moving in these fluid motions, each letter its own little dance. But I don't know—does motor memory really make you remember the French Revolution better? Or does it just make you better at doodling in margins?
And then, are those studies even trustworthy? I sometimes think about how all these strategies, like handwritten vs. typed notes, could just be different strokes for different folks. I mean, maybe some people just do better with the clacking of keys. There's something rhythmic about it; maybe that sticks in their mind like a catchy song. I’m torn because I always end up typing in the end. But then I forget and have to look things up again while scrolling, always scrolling. It’s a vicious circle.
I guess I’m just questioning everything because, after trying so many different learning strategies that promise to make me smarter, I can’t really tell if anything’s working. Maybe it’s not the method, but me. Or maybe it’s like, handwriting notes lets your brain wander and explore while typing is just... typing. Or not. I really don’t know.
So, here I am, back at my desk, trying to figure it out with a pen in one hand and the urge to type this whole mess out with the other. I don’t have a neat way to wrap this up. Honestly, I’m not sure I need one. Life and memory are just messy like that, right?