Handwriting (Odd Socks #16)
Writing by hand: good for the grey matter ... Chicago Pen Show and mini-vacation ... and more
Welcome to Odd Socks Issue #16
I write about stuff that interests me, puts a smile on my face, or could use some clarity amidst the noise. Each issue includes two original articles plus bonus sections. Enjoy!
If not already a subscriber, please click to join to get this free biweekly newsletter in your inbox every other Friday!
Handwriting Is Good For Our Minds
Not everyone has had the benefit of living through a period relying on hands-on approaches and mental problem solving, followed by the birth of digital tech and its silent coop to replace those two previous life skills.
I am a tech nerd and certainly use and benefit from the range of tech gear I have and use. But… I’m also steadfastly old-school in keeping analog ways alive and well. Tech is useful to save time for certain things, connecting distances, and easier (but not better?) access to information. Note that information alone does not imply knowledge. It’s the practical understanding of the subject gained not just through information, but experience, related connections, gathering of related information, and those old-school skills of critical thinking and consideration.
I may differ from some digital-dependents in that I still prefer to hands-on problem solve where possible versus Googling to find a YouTube video. There’s the irony of tech providing opportunities for problem solving when tech doesn’t work right (sometimes), inexplicably cannot do what it did yesterday (often), and doesn’t play well with others in the digital play pen (software, hardware, connectivity, etc.).
But that work is putting out fires or finding gremlins. Problem solving, for sure, but not problem solving in the old sense of figuring out how to make something out of wood, or physically prototyping a new idea, or starting with a blank page and through handwriting/mind-connecting sus out a new, inspiring story or idea.
A recent New York Times article (linked here) extolled the mental benefits gained from working with our hands. And no, typing out letters on a keyboard or thumb typing on an iPhone, aren’t really working with our hands. In the classic sense, whether it’s art, or writing, or crafting, or a myriad of other intricate work requiring both manual dexterity, accesses and uses far more of our brain than keyboard pounding. Researchers are realizing the mental benefits to humans, whether cognitive, mood, or gratifying in a personal accomplishment sense.
Some of the interesting findings from this research:
Brains devote much larger areas and resources to movement, and particularly voluntary hand movements.
Hands-on activities benefit not only emotional and cognitive improvements, but have shown to reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression.
Hands-on tasks, coupled with personal pride and control, improve our sense of accomplishments.
Brain scans when writing by hand show a marked increase in activity over those scans conducted on volunteers using a keyboard.
As one researcher put it:
You know, we evolved in a three-dimensional world, and we evolved to interact with that world through our hands. I think there are a lot of reasons why working with our hands may be prosperous for our brains. – Dr. Kelly Lambert
For these reasons and others, I’ve always continued analog ways (a term not just for the tools we use but the way we go about tasks). I do my best planning, to-do lists, and “thinking” on old-fashioned paper. While I still keep a digital calendar, sync email between my various digital masters, I have not let go of thinking on paper as my primary ideation process.
As with many things in life, and as a healthy way to adopt new technology, seeing our digital gifts as enhancements not dependency, may be the best way to go (at least in my mind) toward a healthy balance of digital and hands-on work.
Chicago Pen Show
Next week, I’ll spend six days in an American city I love to visit: Chicago.
Granted, the first four days I’ll be working, manning a table of merchandise from my Notegeist shop at the Chicago Pen Show. If you’re in the area and attending, stop by and say hi!
But those last two days? Play time, baby. Lots of plans but primarily a walking day downtown Monday doing lots of sketches, wandering Art Institue, eating food I shouldn’t be eating (hey… vacation rules, right?), and indulging in people watching opportunities. Weather forecast appears ideal for such pursuits (crossing fingers). Tuesday I’ll make a pilgrimage out to Kinokuniya and wandering the fabulous Japanese market mall where Kino is located. Small market, but lots of fun wandering aisles of Asian goods.
With luck, I’ll have plenty of sketches and stories to tell from the six-days in Chi-Town in the next Odd Socks newsletter. Looking forward to it!
Odd Socks: a free, alternate-Fridays newsletter written by Gary Varner. Subscribe for fresh, emailed new releases. Product links (when they appear) are affiliates, but don’t affect your purchase price yet help support Odd Socks.
Need some cool stationery stuff, like Blackwing pencils, Field Notes notebooks, and much more? Then stop reading this and visit my shop: Notegeist.