Handwriting Notes is Better When it Comes to Processing and Remembering Information Over Typing Them on an Electronic Device Such as a Laptop

• a study done with college students concluded that taking handwritten notes helped students perform better on tests over notes taken on a laptop
• a study done on five year old children showed that taking notes by hand instead of tracing or typing helped them process letters better which could lead  to successful reading acquisition.
• laptop multitasking not only negatively affects the person doing it by distracting them from note taking but it also distracts others around them
• most studies concluded that handwriting is the more effective way to take notes in the long run over taking notes on a laptop

With the Introduction of Note Taking on Electronic Devices, There has been a Debate as to Which is the Most Effective Way of Taking Notes With Some Saying That the Handwritten is Still the Best Way to Go When Remembering Information

Note taking has always been used wherever people go. Whether it is in an educational environment or a work environment, taking down notes has been essential in many ways. In an educational environment, note taking is crucial for many students to learn the necessary material for their classes. However, is there a "correct" way to take notes that is effective in remembering the necessary information? Some believe that the "old school" way of taking notes will always be effective. But in this day and age where interactive and virtual learning are being integrated through school systems, students are refining their learning. Studies done by psychologists found that handwriting notes helped students remember the information better while in the dental community taking notes on a laptop proved . However, when it came to asking the students themselves and getting their opinions on what was the most effective way to take notes, the overall consensus was surprising.

A Study Done by Two Psychologists Finds That Taking Notes By Hand Provides Better Memory Retention Over Taking Notes on a Laptop

Psychologists Pam Mueller and Daniel Oppenheimer conducted 3 related studies. The first study had participants watch lecture videos and take notes during the videos. Afterwards, they completed "distractor" tasks and were then told to respond to factual recall questions as well as conceptual application questions about the videos they had previously watched. They found that those who took notes by hand answered more of the questions correctly compared to those who took them down on a laptop.

Naureen Elahi, a second year student at the University of Maryland, agrees. She also gives her own reason as to why she prefers to hand write notes even though most of her classes allow the use of laptops.

The second study conducted by Mueller and Oppenheimer imitated the first but this time in an individual lecture style setting instead of a video setting. The results from this study found that neither way of note taking had an advantage over the other. The last study was similar to the first two but this time participants were told to return the following week to take the test. Some were allowed a 10 minute study time before the test while others were not. The results showed that taking hand written notes helped participants perform better on the tests compared to those who took them down on a laptop. Overall, hand writing notes proved to be effective when it came to remembering information in the long run.


Most college students came to this consensus as well. When asked how they take notes while reading a required textbook for a class, the majority of them responded that they hand wrote their notes while only a few said they took notes on their laptops or did a combination of both.





A Second Study Done on Younger Children Finds that Handwriting is Important and More Beneficial When Processing Information Which Could Facilitate Reading Acquisition in Younger Children

Psychologists Karin James and Laura Engelhardt conducted a study similar to Mueller and Oppenheimer's but instead of using college age students, they used five year old children. The children were instructed to print, type, or trace letters and shapes. They were then shown these same exact images while undergoing a MRI scan. A previously documented "reading circuit" was noted during letter perception only after handwriting, not in the children who typed or traced. This study along with Mueller and Oppenheimer's backs the claim that handwriting notes is the better method for students when it comes to retaining information. 


There was mixed responses to back this claim by the college students themselves. When asked how they most commonly take notes in a lecture style class, most responded that they hand write their notes. However, what was interesting was their responses when they were asked how many of their friends take notes on a laptop in their classes: more than half of their friends took notes on an electronic device.

Betel Mulugeta, a second year student at the University of Maryland, also has mixed responses when it comes to note taking in classes. With her own unique way of taking notes inside and outside of the classroom, she explains why not taking notes (most of the time) is the most effective way for her to understand and comprehend the material.

Taking Notes on a Laptop While Browsing the Internet and Doing Other Online Tasks Negatively Affects Test Scores of not only the Person Multitasking but also Those Seated around Them 

Psychologists Faria Sana, Tina Weston, and Nicholas Cepeda conducted a study which involved some undergraduate students multitasking (taking notes and browsing the Internet on a laptop) in a lecture style class. Some participants would be seated around those multitasking but not taking any notes while others would not be seated around those multitasking and also not take any notes. What the researches found was that those who were seated around the participants with laptops performed significantly worse on comprehension tests compared to those who were not seated around those participants note taking while browsing the Internet on a laptop. This is detrimental to students' learning nowadays because more than half of college students' reported that 3 or more of their classes allowed for the use of laptops.

With the Plethora of Technology Nowadays, Students Still Prefer to Take Notes with Pen and Paper

Though laptops and other electronic devices can be seen on college campuses everywhere, it can be surmised from the three studies detailed above and actual interviews of college students themselves that note taking by hand will still be around for some time. Even the younger generation agrees. Sydney, an upcoming freshmen to the University of Maryland explains why she'll still stick with hand writing notes instead of typing them up on a laptop even if some of her classes allow them.

Taking notes by hand is proven to benefit students old and young. For five year old children it is a promising start for reading acquisition while in college students they will see better test scores if they take notes by hand. Though note taking by hand may eventually die out, for now it is still the most effective way to learn.

Even with Large Commerical Radio Stations Taking Over Smaller Ones, Statistics Suggest that Personalized Internet Radio is on the Rise while Terrestrial Radio is Flattening Out

• According to Edison Research, the number of listeners listening to terrestrial radio has stayed relatively flat, but the listeners of internet radio and other streaming services are growing.

• Advances in technology, such smartphones and a growing number of streaming services, have lead to the overall rise of personalized internet radio

• Some journalists speculate that traditional radio will continue to decline as the years progress

The 1930's was a golden age for the traditional radio. In the average American family home, you could expect to see a large radio set in the family/living room. This is a drastic change from today where people have several different options when it comes to listening. Though terrestrial radio still has a steady number of listeners, personalized internet radio is clearly becoming the more popular option.

According to a media study done by Edison Research from 2013, the number of people listening to traditional radio remained stagnant from 2012 (91%) compared to the growth of online listeners (29% to 33%). In addition, online radio listening in cars (a popular place to listen to traditional radio) jumped from 17% to 21%. Another study done by Edison Research in 2014 looked at Americans 13 years and older and found that with the variety of ways to listen to audio, traditional radio was slowly losing its audience. There are a couple reasons as to why this is occurring.

Internet radio appeals to many nowadays who prefer to have stations styled more to their specific tastes. Services like Pandora and Spotify provide personalized radio options along with less advertising. Premium upgrades even get rid of the advertising and allow you to listen offline. Along those lines, satellite radio is gaining momentum as well. Why would people be willing to pay for something that is essentially available for free? An article by Rick Munarriz explains why: think of satellite radio as cable television and regular AM/FM radio as free local television. Satellite radio offers more options along with commercial free channels. Also, traditional AM/FM radio does not have the money to hire the various talents that appear on satellite radio (Howard Stern being a notable example).


Overall, streaming is becoming the new trend when it comes to listening to music. A third research study done by Edison Research found that more teenagers listen to streaming music services over traditional radio. Polling more than 2,000 teenagers from the ages of 13 to 17 , Edison found that more teenagers listened to streaming services longer than terrestrial radio by 11 minutes. With teenagers making up a large part of the transition from traditional ways of listening, this could be a sign that the terrestrial radio may slow lose its audience in the near future.

The second reason behind the transition from traditional to streaming radio is the multitude of devices from which people can listen to audio nowadays. With new tablets, smartphones, and personal music players coming out almost every year, the old fashioned radio set does not need to be around. A study done by Pew Research Center found that people listen to the traditional radio out of convenience rather than having the desire to.

But what about large radio companies such as Clear Channel? Clear Channel's revenue actually increased thanks in part to the iHeart Radio Music Festivals in Las Vegas and other promotional events. It is the country's largest radio operator with 850 stations and 238 million listeners a month under its belt. Does this mean that terrestrial radio still has a chance of sticking around for awhile? Some journalists think not. Munarriz believes that AM/FM radio will slowly go downhill, even though Clear Channel is doing reasonably well. While Clear Channel makes several of its stations available almost everywhere, "local advertisers are unwittingly overpaying for their terrestrial spots and they will find even less value in the product."


Gordon Borrell, a student of media history, also believes that most of the radio industry may die out. He points out how the newspaper industry ridiculed the early days of the Internet. With new ways to listen to music, the radio may go the way of the newspaper. Borrell does not believe that the radio will die out completely, he muses that there will be other ways of sending out audio without requiring an FCC license. There is some truth to what Borrell talks about, the newspaper industry is not dying out so much as transitioning digitally. In a way, the radio is doing the same with streaming services and radio stations themselves are streaming online.



With these statistics and opinions, I believe that the transition from traditional AM/FM radio stations to online personal radio stations is more important in the development of radio rather than large companies obtaining. Online personal radio stations provide more options for listeners and they can tailor radio stations to their specific tastes while at the same time discovering new music. Online music is also easier to access nowadays, with the multitude of handheld devices that can be carried around with ease. Though large radio companies such as Clear Channel are having some success, in this day and age where new technology comes out almost every day, people want something that will fit their specific tastes while also being able to discover new music all while having it at the touch of their fingertips. 

Advertising nowadays has set an unfair high standard for men when it comes to their physique 

Just like how advertising sexualizes and demeans women, advertising can have a similar affect on men when it comes to their physique: demanding them to have the body of Adonis, a Greek god known for his immaculate body.

In this ad, it is somewhat obvious that the product being advertised is salad dressing. Yet what would first catch many eyes (and is even more blatantly obvious) is who is holding the salad dressing. A young man with a chiseled physique and clean cut looks. This almost seems like an ad for Calvin Klein underwear rather than an ad for salad dressing. This, like other advertisements setting unrealistic standards for women, has negative effects on men. Society expects men to have the body of a Greek god because of the norm set by all of these advertisements. Women are not the only ones that resort to anorexia or bulimia to maintain the physique portrayed by models, men too feel the pressure to look as appealing as men in the ads do to attract women. 

Marketing companies have not only established a sexualized stereotype of women but also an extremely skinny body image through advertising 

It comes as no surprise that through various sources of advertising, marketing companies have established a sexualized, demeaning, and extremely skinny stereotype of women. For example, this Dolce & Gabbana ad.

The woman in this ad is surrounded by 4 men who are all admiring her as she lays there. One of the men appears to be almost holding her down. This ad portrays this woman as an object for men to view at their pleasure. Another important negative effect of this picture is the woman's body. Though you can only see her side, the slimness of her body borders on extremely thin. This is so common in advertising that is the norm for women to be this skinny. This ad not only portrays woman as sexualized objects but it also cements the fact that being skinny is the best way to be attractive. These negative effects are so common that it is no wonder this the unfortunate norm for women now.