The power of writing by hand (as opposed to typing)

[Dien Rice]

Glenn recently posted about writing by pen and paper (that is, writing by hand) before...

See his post...

Mark Twain Wrote All His Books With Paper & Pen

Gary Halbert famously asked his students to write out classic direct response ads by hand...

And he wrote all his ads initially with a pen and paper, too (not on the computer)!

A lot of more recent copywriters (even at least one well-known one) rubbish the idea... But there's evidence that Gary was right!

Handwriting helps with learning a new language... suggesting it may also help with "absorbing" the lessons of an ad...
Handwriting Is Better Than Typing When Learning a New Language, Study Finds
https://www.sciencealert.com/handwri...ad-study-finds

Handwriting helps kids learn more and remember better
Why writing by hand makes kids smarter
https://www.sciencedaily.com/release...1001113540.htm

It can even help with creativity!
How Handwriting Trains the Brain
https://archive.ph/YyQPR

"Other research highlights the hand's unique relationship with the brain when it comes to composing thoughts and ideas. Virginia Berninger, a professor of educational psychology at the University of Washington, says handwriting differs from typing because it requires executing sequential strokes to form a letter, whereas keyboarding involves selecting a whole letter by touching a key. ...

"And one recent study of hers demonstrated that in grades two, four and six, children wrote more words, faster, and expressed more ideas when writing essays by hand versus with a keyboard."

You might benefit even if your handwriting looks like chicken scratch marks in the dirt (like mine does)!

- Dien

P.S. I still mostly type though...

P.P.S. I recently tried an experiment where I wrote what I wanted "to do" each day by hand, as opposed to typing it up (I've done both in the past)... I found writing it up by hand to be more motivational - and I feel I ended up getting more done - compared to typing it up...