The practice of putting pen to paper may be severely stunted, but it’s far from dead. People still use pens to take notes, write letters and append signatures to documents of all sorts.

A study by Princeton and UCLA finds that handwriting notes boosts deeper understanding and recall compared to typing.

Once upon a time, university lectures were accompanied by the sound of pens scribbling on paper. But if you go into a lecture hall today, you will hear students tapping on laptops.

2. Improved cognitive function and memory retention. The physical act of writing engages your brain in ways that typing cannot replicate. When you write by hand, you’re not just recording ...

The biggest problem with pen and paper systems is that they don’t scale well, says Gareth Mott, from the Royal United Services Institute. It’s slower than using a computer for many tasks ,and ...