Studies have suggested using a pen and paper provides a different result than sitting down at a screen. The premise is a tactile object in your hands (the pen) lights up a different part of your brain, as you form each letter.

The argument is your memory and cognitive abilities for reading are better when you handwrite.

However, continued argument is works written by hand have more depth than those written with a keyboard. Handwriting forces you to slow down and flesh out your thoughts as you put together each letter.

In the world of notes and our memory, I will give way to the experts.

In the realm of producing depth (another way of saying “better”) work, a red light goes off in my head. The problem is not paper vs. digital, but the way writing is taught in both mediums.

When we teach to write by hand, we teach journaling, freewriting, offer prompts, workbooks and all sorts of activities to shut down the conscious mind. When we teach typing, we simply teach people how to type on a keyboard.

We do not apply the same rigor to the keyboard as we do to the pen.

Creativity requires a person to get out of their own way and trust their subconscious. This can happen on paper and the screen if one trains themselves to do so.

After all, pulp fiction writers (and prominent writers today), trust their subconscious enough to just sit down and let the words flow out. The medium by which they do it is the one most convenient to them. Some are still using typewriters, but it doesn’t follow using  a typewriter is the key to being a prolific writer.

Handwriting is fine (hell, I can still do cursive and shorthand), but don’t confuse nostalgia (or preference) with process.

The tool is not the key to creativity, just the conduit.