When it comes to college and the aesthetic of academia on social media, you see most people switching to using an iPad or other technologies to create beautiful notes and projects. It wasn’t until the end of the first semester that I even thought of it. I was set on paper and pencil, and have been for years on end. I never understood writing notes on a computer as it scientifically doesn’t help you remember as well as paper and pencil. However, I gave in. For Christmas, I got an iPad and an Apple Pencil and I decided to give it a shot. I paid eight dollars for Goodnotes so that I could create notebooks and take my notes all in one place.
To this day, I still wonder sometimes if it was worth it. In my opinion, it is fully worth it (if it is in your price range). I like it because I still handwrite my notes, I have all my class materials in one place, and find myself not needing to lug around the extra weight of textbooks, notebooks, and a computer. Something I have also noticed is my handwriting becoming significantly neater and my notes are much more aesthetically pleasing. I can upload pictures and add colors to my notes without needing to remember my pens and highlighters. There is full access to so many tools that make my classes much easier. As a science major, I think going digital is much easier than carrying around paper because of how much it is used up on notebooks. I also enjoy having the ability to use the split screen tool and look at pages or slides while I take down my notes. This helps me to get the most out of my classes.
However, it is not fully necessary. Paper and pencil is a classic and I will always love it with most of my heart. To be fair, going digital means you have more devices to charge. However, before I switched I had just felt as if I was wasting so much paper. Year after year I had to toss out notebooks that I had filled up and no longer needed. I find that paper and pencil are still better for me to study as I prefer handheld flashcards, but for me, the digital path was the correct choice for me and my education. So, my take is that going digital was entirely worth it for me!