For me it’s the process of writing them that is important. I normally throw out my notes not long after writing them.

I believe there is evidence that the action of writing by hand forms memories more strongly.

Since all my meetings are video calls now, I've reverted to writing notes, simply because I can't feign concentration on the call and type into a different window at the same time.

I finish my days surrounded by scraps of paper to be typed up. Can't wait for my ReMarkable 2 to arrive.

I keep my notes in notebooks and never need to bother typing them up - with numbered pages, I can reference them from my notes file, and with my notes file split into dated sections, I can reference the other way too. And I look after my notebooks, so losing my paper notes isn't all that much more likely than losing my laptop, anyway.

I used to try to take meeting notes electronically, with a laptop or an iPad or whatever. Paper turns out to just work a lot better, for me at least. It doesn't take me out of the flow of a discussion the way dealing with a computer does, I never have battery problems, and I think there's really something to the idea that the process of writing by hand helps fix memories in a way that typing doesn't.

edit: I can also vouch for the value of fountain pens in making the process of writing pleasant in its own right. A well-designed pen requires only the pressure of its own weight under gravity to deposit ink reliably; much of learning how to write with such a pen is thus unlearning the forcible hand required to use more conventional writing instruments, with the very pleasant side effect of making finger aches and hand cramps largely a thing of the past. For the same reason, most people find their handwriting to improve as a result of the switch - without the need to ram the nib into the paper just to get a line at all, you find yourself more able to write neatly without having to overcontrol the way you do with a pencil, ballpoint, or even a rollerball. Developing a beautiful, personal hand is a pleasure all its own, and nothing else I've ever tried has helped me do that nearly as well as using a fountain pen has. And, with a little practice, taking notes quickly is easier than ever before, too - it's amazing how much of a difference it makes when your hand doesn't start to hurt after just a page or two!

It's a practice I'm happy to recommend, and not at all difficult to start; a Pilot Metropolitan in medium or fine should run you somewhere between $12 and $20, with Pilot Namiki replacement cartridges usually about 50 cents each in packs of six or twelve, and almost any Moleskine-type notebook will do. That's where I started, and while I've since moved on to a system more tailored to my specific purposes, that's definitely the starting point I'd recommend as an inexpensive way to get a sense of fountain pens' strengths and weaknesses in general.

As I think must be very evident by now, I'm happy to talk about this stuff! It's become a bit of a hobby in its own right for me, so if you have questions, feel free to hit me up and I'll do my best to give useful answers.

Being able to write left handed without making ink smudges is a big reason why I now prefer digital notes. G2 gel ink is mostly okay, but I think fountain pens are out of the question for most left handers.

There's a method for left handed writing which avoids this problem, without wrist strain: simply holding the page at 90 degrees, and writing vertically.

Alas, I wasn't taught it while neuroplastic, and have been unable to get the hang of it. I regret that my teachers were clueless about the peculiarities of lefthandedness, but at least I'm not of the era when it would have been beaten out of me.

I'm left handed and I use Parker Quink ink in my fountain pens exactly because it dries fast and thus I don't smudge often (though I will smudge if I write super fast).

That's fair! I'm right-handed myself, and while I've seen a few articles that purport to offer methods that can work for southpaws, the impression I've come away with is that it's as much a matter of luck as of anything else.

I can definitely second the value of a good quality pen. I've never tried a fountain pen, but I really like my Pilot G2's with the medium-sized refills.

I'm considering giving fountain pens a try once my refills run out.

You can pick up a Pilot Metropolitan for usually between $12 and $20, and Pilot Namiki cartridges are usually between $.33 and $.50 each depending on if you get the 6- or the 12-pack. You'll probably go through cartridges faster than refills since a fountain pen lays down more ink per unit distance, but that's also a big part of what makes them so comfortable to use: thinner ink needs less force per unit flow, and also provides a fluid bearing between the tip and the paper.

So it's not a huge investment to give it a try and see if you like it, is what I'm trying to say! And there's no compromise on quality involved with the Metropolitan, either; I've paid four or five times as much for Western pens that didn't work a quarter so well. For all that it's kind of a cliché about Japanese companies, Pilot really is pretty obviously fanatical about quality even in their entry-level lines, and the Metropolitan reflects that; they are by far the best steel-nibbed pens I've used, and I still prefer one for letter writing with the 1.1mm stub nib.

(Also, in my experience at least, there's a good deal of adaptation early on to develop the lighter hand, and a steel nib is much more forgiving of excess force than a gold one like my Decimo uses.)

Other than the lighter hand, one thing you'll definitely notice is a difference in weight; Metropolitan bodies are turned from brass, and the result is a pen that's both heavier and balanced further back than you'll be initially used to. That actually helps, since you can support the weight of the pen in the web of your thumb and find a natural balance point that lets the pen's weight, instead of your hand, provide the force. But it does also take some getting used to, and some prefer a lighter pen - part of why I ended up with the Decimo is its aluminum body, and the polymer-bodied Lamy Safari is a good entry-level option if you're concerned about weight and comfort.

When I take mine to meetings I feel like a hipster, luckily I mostly work from home. It's great, but flawed in some annoying ways - sofware updates have fixed some of the issues but they've been slow in coming and I'm not confident they won't dry up now the focus is shifting to the Mk2 device. Use it all the time, but find it hard to recommend!

> When I take mine to meetings I feel like a hipster

Try using a fountain pen! I was a little self-conscious at first too. It helps that no one really cares, though. And now I have an ironclad excuse not to lend anyone my pen, which is nice considering that my ballpoints used to go walking with Jesus so often that I ended up keeping three spares in my backpack.

Ever thought about using methods to digitalize your notes?