5 Reasons Why The Written Word Is Still Vital In Today's Digital World

Do you write things out using pen and paper or are you an avid typer?

I asked this question in my Facebook Group and the answers were fairly mixed.

Many were just typers. Some hand-wrote journals and only one said she wrote her notes and her podcast episodes out on paper.

But typing is just what you do now. Everything is digital, computer-based and online.

I mean why even bother learning to write?

When I worked with kiddos with Autism I had a family ask me this question. "If everything is digital now why should they even learn proper letter formation and printing?"

The written word will always be important. You can't do everything online.

Children now aren't even being taught cursive in school.  So we are about to see an entire generation of people whose legal signature is going to be poorly printed names.

There are so many incredible benefits to writing pen to paper. Here are 5 important ones you should know:

1. Activates more brain areas than typing

Writing by hand activates the areas in our brain responsible for thinking, language, memory and muscle movement simultaneously. There is so much that goes into the process of writing that just the act of doing it (regardless of what you're writing) is critical.

Typing does not activate multiple areas.

In writing the frontal lobe (responsible for, speaking, writing, movement, reason, logic, planning and problem-solving) is the most important area that's activated during the act of writing but it coordinates heavily with the parietal lob (responsible for, interpreting words and language).

Any activity that activates multiple areas of the brain and works them in a positive and productive way helps your brain stay strong and healthy and helps with cognitive longevity. So, as you get older your brain stays wrong and you're less likely to see an early decline in your mind.

2. Enhances memory

The number one reason I continue to write by hand often is this amazing benefit!

According to NeuroRelay, "When you are writing something down with a pen and paper, you are stimulating a collection of cells in the base of your brain known as the Reticular Activating System. The RAS is the filter for all of the information your brain needs to process and it gives more attention to what you are currently focusing on."

This means when you write it down this system activates and ensures that the information that you need most is front and centre which means you are more likely to remember it later.

A study at the University Of Tokyo looked at university students and how they wrote their lecture notes. They concluded that those who hand-wrote their notes had better recall of the material and remembered more information after the lecture. Many students who typed their notes said they often didn't even remember typing them when they went back through their notes to study for their exams.

3. A conscious process

Writing is a conscious process. We live in a world where everything is so fast-paced and instant and our brains naturally look for instant gratification because it wants pleasure and not pain. But just because our brains like the constant instant rewards doesn't mean that's the best thing for us and our brains.

Typing is an unconscious process. It allows us to get lazy. When we get lazy we are more likely to produce poor quality work and make mistakes. Doing something faster isn't always better. The world demands fast and more. We are getting away from quality.

I see all too often millionaires or large corporations sending out digital products with mistakes. Spelling mistakes in blog posts, not taking the time to set up their funnel properly so people are getting emails they shouldn't and companies who say their strive to give their audience value pushes out crap and our idea of what is valuable actually decreases. The norm is becoming more, more, more instead of good work. So when good work comes out we don't appreciate it. We move on faster than a kid on Christmas morning charging down the stairs to see what Santa brought him.

4. Writing improves our critical thinking and understanding

This is such an important benefit. Since writing is a conscious process it means the act of doing it is slower. The benefit to it being slower is that we are forced to sit with the information for longer than when we are typing.

When you have to sit with it for longer you end up expanding on your thoughts and forming a deeper connection or more connections to the information you're writing about. You end up having a stronger ability to understand abstract thoughts and be able to create creative solutions to problems. 

A blog post on pens.com says "Handwriting forces your brain to mentally engage with the information, improving both literacy and reading comprehension. On the other hand, typing encourages verbatim notes without giving much thought to the information." Writing by hand, due to its slower nature, forces your brain to actually process the information before it moves on. Typing doesn't give your brain time to you that. It's simply like a transcription at that point.

5. Encourages the habit of slow living

You had to know I was going to relate this back to health and wellness. There are so many great benefits for your brain, productivity and business but writing is also an incredible activity for your overall well-being.

Slow living is the idea that life is made up of moments and those moments are worth being present for. Slowing living contradicts the entire way of the world currently. The world is so obsessed with more and now. Bosses and CEOs demand high productivity and quantity. In order to make money you have to sell products and often that means switching to mass-producing things.

But since writing is a slower process and more conscious it can be used as a tool for getting into the habit of slow living. It encourages you to be present in the moment and extract more meaning and understanding from everything.

If you've been burnt out and stressed out slow living could be your ticket to relief and to healing. Check out my blog on slow living and how it can support your health and wellness (which is key to running and successful and sustainable business!)

Challenge: Go pick up a notebook and once a day set a timer for 5 minutes and just write. Don't plan it or think about it just let the words flow. Even if the combination of them doesn't make sense. Just write it out.

Interested in getting more leads in your business but don't want to create another freebie that no one is going to read anyway? You need a digital resource that people pay for! When people have invested in you (even a small amount) they are far more likely to buy your higher ticket item than if they've invested nothing and forgotten they opted in for it. I'm running a special for digital resource creation until the end of the year. If you're interested in having one made that you can turn around and sell to your audience check this out!