I expect that we of this somewhat senior blog circle take paper lists to the grocery store because we are of an age when this was the only way to do it, for we had no handy dandy portable electronic devices. Apparently, we are thus doing a good thing for our brains, or at least this VegOut article so says. I post a little of the article below, but you now have the link to the whole post, which isn't terribly long, should you wish to click and read a bit more.
When writing by hand, brain connectivity patterns were far more elaborate than when typing. The researchers found widespread theta and alpha connectivity coherence between network hubs and nodes in parietal and central brain regions. These are the same frequency bands and brain areas that existing literature identifies as crucial for memory formation and encoding new information.
When participants typed, those connectivity patterns largely disappeared. As lead researcher Audrey van der Meer explained, the simple movement of hitting a key with the same finger repeatedly is less stimulating for the brain than the intricate, precisely controlled hand movements involved in forming letters.
This is not just an academic distinction. It means that when you write "eggs, bread, olive oil" on a piece of paper, your brain is doing fundamentally different work than when you tap those same words into a phone app. The handwritten version engages visual processing, motor planning, proprioceptive feedback, and spatial awareness simultaneously. The typed version engages mostly repetitive motor sequences and visual confirmation.
We have three Alexas in the house (don't ask), so when we realize that we need to add an item to our shopping list, we simply hail Alexa. "Alexa put X on the shopping list." When I am ready to shop, I grab the back of an envelope and write out the list more or less in the order that I will find the items in the store. I guess I make the best of both worlds: the convenience of compiling a list from wherever I might be in the house but then doing my brain a favour by writing it out.
Although we have four Alexa’s in our house, we don’t use them for lists. I write our grocery list on a small whiteboard that hangs in our kitchen apparently getting brain benefits and then before leaving, take a photo with my phone so I fit in to the younger generations.
ReplyDeleteI think in your own very odd way, you qualify. lol
DeleteI haven't handwritten a shopping list in years! I've been ordering online. But I write memos to self, so maybe that counts.
ReplyDeleteI grant you a pass.
DeleteI tend to do pick up orders but even with these I shop by aisle. This is how I shopped and did not need a list because I saw what I needed. Mark needs a list and it is hand written. I cannot read what he writes.
ReplyDeletePeople who don't require lists exist on a higher plane.
DeleteYes I do like the paper list though. I don't always make it anymore and sometimes use the phone. But now we have confirmation that writing by hand is an important thing and I definitely intend to do it on a yellow legal pad. Maybe I'll copy out all my poems by hand. Thanks AC. Aloha to you
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting is that if I write something down, even if I leave it on the counter, the act of writing it down allows me to visualize it in my mind.
ReplyDeleteI always write out a list and do it in order of where things are in the store. I then cross things off on the list as I shop.
ReplyDeleteWe have a pad on the kitchen counter and write things as we think of them. Sometimes JG, who usually does the shopping, will rewrite the list to correspond with the layout of the store he frequents. I type everything I write, believing that typing is closer to my brain speed than writing, given the level of arthritis and other horrors impeding my finger dexterity. And, in passing, I am left handed, so I do lack dexterity in spades, as they say.
ReplyDeleteHmm. maybe that analysis explains a few things.
I was aware of this research and still love a handwritten list. It's also quite important for our brains to summarize information by hand. I do worry a bit for young people who rarely touch pencil to paper.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. I do make grocery lists on paper--though constant typing has rendered my handwriting rather illegible and I often find myself at the grocery wondering what the hell I meant by SRWNY.
ReplyDeleteI'm q huge believer in writing things down. Taking notes in lecture got me through college. I'm a decent listener but not auditory, so I benefited greatly from the writing, then re-reading over and over again. I too make grocery lists, but for my pick up order as I rarely go to the store.
ReplyDeleteI have a printed list that I keep on laptop to make more copies. It's organized by the aisles at the Hannafords I shop at. Yes, I shop at a Canadian company. As I need things I circle them on the list. I was grocery shopping today buying much more than usual because two youngest granddaughters will be here for 10 days.
ReplyDeleteI write it out, I think it's less cumbersome than people stopping to take our their phone & staring at it in the middle of the aisle. Ahem. I write mine on one of the larger lined post-its and put it right in front of my face (on the cart). I agree, the kids teachers always had them write their spelling words down at least 3x each. It did help them remember.
ReplyDeleteI like the article. I write out shopping lists and appointments by hand.
ReplyDelete