An Argument for Paper
In terms of how much you care about how your notes look, content retention, and pure academic feeling (aka the vibes), nothing truly beats paper. There’s just a simple freedom that comes with writing on paper – how you can literally put whatever you want in your notes, structure them however you want, and on top of it all, remember things better. Studies have shown that handwriting your notes helps you retain information because you’re forced to slow down and process information as you go. Yes, you can achieve this with a tablet and pen – but with paper, most of the time, you only have one pen stroke to give, one chance at writing, or else your notes are ruined. Plus, there’s no battery life to worry about, and sometimes doodling in the margins just makes studying less dreadful.
With pure paper, you also don’t get any of the distractions that come inherently with a tablet or computer. We all know how devices try to suck you back in after using them, disrupting your learning flow and breaking your focus. Naturally, do not disturb is an option, but to be truly free of those pesky notifications, paper is the only option.
Above all, notebooks are cheap. Unlike other options, writing with a pen and paper will only set you back a couple of Euros every month. Therefore, paper is the obvious choice if you don’t care about any of the quirky bits that come with tablets or digitalised notes.
An Argument for Digital
However, if you’re reading, this means you’re curious – curious about those very quirky bits that do come with digital note-taking. On the flip side of paper notes lies the world of electronics – digital notes shine in their practicality. Everything is neatly stored in one device, so you don’t have to lug around a stack of notebooks or worry about misplacing that one page with an important formula. Need to write something down? Just turn on the iPad. Need to go on Canvas, but you don’t want to open your laptop? Again, turn it on. Want to carry numerous thousand-page textbooks without having to actually carry them? Just open the PDF.
There are two types of digital notes: typing stuff into your laptop on Google Docs or Word, and digitally handwriting your notes on an iPad or tablet. To start, note-taking on your computer may work for stuff like meetings or quick reminders, but this quickly reaches its limit when you start using your laptop as your main note-taking device. Most of the time, especially in fields such as engineering or medicine, you will have to draw – try putting in detailed diagrams of power plants or human anatomy that you actually remember and didn’t ‘ctrl c + ctrl v’ from the internet on your laptop. It’s a pain, and you get no retention from your notes this way. There’s simply no editing power beyond what your paper margins dictate.
On the other hand, handwriting on a tablet brings the best of both worlds into one. With, of course, a couple of its own cons, but it is still a great alternative, nonetheless. With something like an iPad, you can colour-code, tag, or reorganise your notes however you want, without having to rewrite anything. Apps like OneNote and GoodNotes give you options to combine text with visuals, both from the internet and made by yourself. You can download PDFs and annotate them however you want – personally, I’ve found this very useful in signing contracts. The most noticeable difference to writing on paper is that you’re writing on glass, and while that can be fixed by buying a paper-esque screen cover, it’s still not the same. Also, the device can get hot while you’re writing on it.
The Verdict
At the end of the day, there’s no universal winner here. It really depends on what works for you. In class, I see a lot of people with some form of tablet, barely any people with computers as their note-taking device, but most people still write with their pens and paper. I personally go towards the iPad and other similar tablets, since not having to carry around a dozen kilograms worth of textbooks and paper every day really can’t be beat. Paper, however, is unbeatable for focus, retention, and that authentic academic feel, while digital is more for convenience, speed, and organisation.
And now the whole question boils down to whether or not it’s worth buying a tablet purely for notetaking. This is tricky to answer, since most tablets you find are not going to be purely for note-taking. There are some, of course, such as the reMarkable tablets, which I’m told are great for note-taking without distractions, but most of the time, you’re going for something like an iPad: a device that can take notes, and take them well, but also one that can provide entertainment. To answer the question – yes, in the long run, I think you’ll gain as much value from your iPad or otherwise as you’ve spent on it, either through note-taking or watching movies in bed. However, when in doubt, you can always rely on good old pen and paper.
