By 2ndactt/ Photo by Nubia Navarro (nubikini) on Pexels.com
Many times, people do things out of convenience. Jotting down thoughts on a piece of paper is convenient. Putting sticky notes on desks and computer screens so they won’t forget a thing is convenient. Most people still carry their trusted paper-bound notebook to the meeting room, as if it gives them a feeling of security. To some extent, we are surrounded and comforted by the softness of paper in our everyday life. And we are happy about that.
People have been cutting down trees and making the forest shrink in size to keep this happy life. A Food and Agriculture Organization report said the loss of forestland has led to imbalanced biodiversity and climate change. Our happy life, facilitated by paper consumption, has made the earth unhappy.
One way to help the planet become happier is to reduce paper use drastically. For instance, we can replace paper-bound notebooks with tablet computers now that note-keeping apps are easy to use and available across all operating systems. Taking notes on the tablet is easier than ever before. Moreover, it benefits your brain and daily work in many ways.
Your notes are a lot easier to find
You jotted down meeting notes in one paperback notebook and scribbled down ideas in the other journal—week after week and month after month. You have piles of paper-bound notebooks like a treasure island. Now, a client of yours requests you to re-examine a case you kept notes in detail several years ago. You realize you must dig out notes from that treasure island.
Think how effortlessly the search work could have been if you had written your notes on a tablet computer instead of paperback notebooks. You type in keywords, and your notes are right there in the digital files.
You write and draw the natural way
Unlike typing on a qwerty keyboard, writing or drawing with a tool is the most primitive, natural way to track daily life. This can be found in cave paintings depicting bovines and rhinos on cave walls thousands of years ago. So, you can write and draw on your tablet the natural way as you do with a pen in your hand.
Your brain benefits from handwriting
A study published in Frontiers in Psychology found that when young adults write using a stylus pen on a touchscreen, parietal and central areas of their brain showed synchronized activity in the theta range. Drawing activates the parietal areas of the brain, too. However, researchers did not find similar brain activities in those who type on keyboards.
Medical News Daily explains that the parietal lobe is located roughly at the upper back of the head. It helps people interpret symbols, such as written language, mathematical problems, and codes. Memory is also one of the functions of the parietal lobe.
Interpretation of symbols and codes and the memory function are all part of the learning process. Through writing with a tool, people activate their parietal area of the brain. It, in turn, helps them learn better.
You own a storage space that replaces hundreds of paper-bound notebooks, at least
Notes written on a tablet or digital notes can be stored in hardware like your computer or saved using online cloud services, such as iCloud, OneDrive, Google Drive, and Dropbox. You don’t have to worry about running short of space for your notes when they are stored digitally.
You might worry that notes and content stored as digital files can be accessed by someone else. But so is your journal kept in a paper-bound notebook. The good thing is many online storage services allow you to encrypt notes, drawings, and other contents you created. Setting up passcodes to encrypt your files, and your stuff is secured. It is like putting a physical lock on your paper-bound notebook. Simple as that.
Notes are synced across different devices and portable wherever you are
One of the advantages of keeping notes on a tablet computer (actually every digital device) is that you get to sync them on various devices and get access to them wherever you are. You write notes on a tablet of any brand. Then, you check your notes on your handset, desktop computer, or other devices whenever needed.
It doesn’t mean you are encouraged to write and edit your notes on the go. Just look at how many traffic incidents are caused by mobile phone use. We are saying you can find a nice place, sit down, and check your notes on the phone if necessary.
Ideas and thoughts are easily expanded to accomplish your work
Concepts and ideas written on a digital device can be easily shared or copied to any file you work on. So you can quickly develop your ideas and concepts into outlines and frameworks for your research papers or business proposals. Also, you can effortlessly add more resources and materials to your documents and reports by inserting links, images, graphs, and tables. And your paper is finished just like that.
Collaboration
Taking notes in the digital format also makes it convenient to share and collaborate with your teammates or whoever is involved in your projects. Note apps– Google Docs, Google Keep, Microsoft OneNote, Apple Notes, Pages, and others– work across most operating systems, including Android, macOS, and Microsoft Windows. This allows you to write notes on the tablet, work on them, and share them with team members.
Are you still buying a keyboard for your tablet to increase productivity? Why not try writing on that? You may get the pleasure of writing back.
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Samsung Galaxy Tab S8, S8+, S8 Ultra (available in 11”, 12.4”, 14.6”)
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