The Argument for Fewer Screens and More Pencil and Paper
When I was in college I had to buy books for all of my classes. This was a hefty few hundred dollars out-of-slim-pockets every quarter. Luckily, I soon realized that most college students engage in some form of recycling or re-selling their books and that the highest resale could be recouped from nearly pristine copies versus the well-highlighted and dog-eared versions. I thus began studying by re-writing instead of highlighting the crucial points in each chapter, filling notebook after notebook with juicy pieces of information that would surely be on the final exams. This was, of course, when personal computers were a luxury and “note-taking” on these devices was not common. What I did not know at the time was that I was on to something. By laboriously writing out, in longhand, the pertinent facts of each of my chosen classes, I was giving my brain the best method for later recall. Read below for why as an Educational Psychologist I am always telling my students to use this method for studying and keep the computer for other uses.
Why Writing by Hand Makes Your Child Smarter
For nearly 20 years, Norwegian neurobiologist Audrey van der Meer has researched how writing by hand trains the brain. In a 2024 study using 256 brain sensors, her team discovered that writing by hand literally makes the brain come alive. Physically shaping letters activates complex neural networks responsible for memory, attention, and learning. But when they typed on a keyboard, that active brain network completely shut down. Typing just didn't wake up the brain.
The Secret Is in the Movement
This happens because writing is like a workout for the mind. When your child writes the letter "b" or "d," their hand has to make thousands of tiny, specific movements. They have to use their eyes, fingers, and memory all at once to shape each letter. This physical practice is exactly how a child’s brain learns to tell letters apart. When they type, every single key feels exactly the same—just press, press, press. Typing is so easy that the brain gets lazy and skips the actual learning part.
Slow Down to Help Them Learn
This is also why kids and adults instantly forget things they type into a phone. Typing is too fast, so the information just passes right through without sticking. Writing by hand slows us down and forces us to actually think about what we are doing. In a world full of tablets and computers, the best tool for your child's education is still a simple pen and paper. If you want your kids to truly understand and remember their schoolwork, have them write it down by hand.
