Camila Amieva | Contributing Writer
It’s the day before my first final at FIU, and a whole semester’s worth of meticulous notes got obliterated by a cup of black tea (my favorite one, no less!). All of those hours spent transcribing lectures, all of those all-nighters studying, gone in under ten seconds. I panic, I freak out, I curse myself for being so clumsy.
And I vow to never write on paper again.
Yes, that does sound very melodramatic, but it is true that I largely transitioned to digital note-taking after that incident. While the Great Notebook Massacre of Fall 2023 was what finally convinced me to transition to digital notes fully, I had been considering making the switch since I started high school.
Unfortunately, using physical notes has always been a nightmare of bulging backpacks, missing handouts, and messy notebooks for me since I started public school. Having to keep track of hundreds of worksheets, entire textbooks’ worth of notes, and over six class binders was a physical and cognitive burden not only on my back, but also on my attention.
Time I could have spent studying or completing homework was wasted on constantly reorganizing my notes, making sure I didn’t lose any handouts, and trashing completed worksheets to prevent my bookbag from bursting.
Transitioning to a centralized, digital note-taking system, while requiring some adaptation and a change in my organizational habits, ultimately made me a much more productive student. I can focus more easily on completing work and studying without having to worry about what happened to worksheet 2,346.
There are a few reasons I believe digital notes are superior to physical notes, especially in college. It’s cheaper in the long run, saves me space and time, and is much easier to access. Digital notes are also easier to organize and harder to lose.
While the upfront cost of a tablet or laptop seems higher than purchasing notebooks and pens, having physical notes in the long run can be more expensive in the long run when you factor in physical textbooks, loose-leaf paper, binders, and printing fees over the 4 years of your degree. Once you purchase your tablet or laptop, all your notes will be in one place, and you can access digital versions of class textbooks for annotations.
Digital notes also give you access to study tools that physical notes lack. No matter what notetaking app you use, all of your notes will be searchable, making it ridiculously easy to cross-reference notes for studying. You can add media such as diagrams and charts to supplement your notes. Notes in your tablet can be resized, recolored, and rearranged without having to start fresh on a new page.
With digital notes, your files are much easier to keep safe. Besides lowering the chances of physical disasters like spilled coffee, torn pages, and forgotten notebooks, digital pages are not as much at the mercy of environmental factors like rain and humidity compared to physical paper.
If you use cloud syncing services like Google Drive or iCloud, your notes can be accessed anywhere. Perfect for cramming if you forget your tablet the day of the exam.
Despite digital notes being my holy grail of productivity, they are not for everyone. It’s easier to get distracted while studying when accessing your games or social media is more convenient, and you have to consistently charge your device. For me, setting up Do-Not-Disturb, automatic cloud backups, and carrying a portable charger are how I mitigate these issues.
While there’s nothing like the satisfaction of your pencil scrawling on paper, digital notes have single-handedly skyrocketed my academic performance, especially with many classes being online.
Handwritten notes may be pretty, but the clarity of mind I now have with digital notes is a much prettier view.
DISCLAIMER:
The opinions presented on this page do not represent the views of the PantherNOW Editorial Board. These views are separate from editorials and reflect the perspectives of contributing writers and/or university community members.
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