Why note-taking apps don't make us smarter

Of course, software can only take you so far. I still don’t write down most of the thoughts that I have, even on subjects I have written multiple columns about. Nor do I try to disstill these thoughts into sharp-edged little maxims the way Matuschak does in his own note-taking practice. He says he spends two hours a day refining notes he has previo... See more

When you use up too much energy taking notes, you have little left over for the subsequent steps that add far more value: making connections, imagining possibilities, formulating theories, and creating new ideas of your own. Not to mention, if you make reading and learning into unpleasant experiences, over time you’re going to find yourself doing l

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The reason, sadly, is that thinking takes place in your brain. And thinking is an active pursuit — one that often happens when you are spending long stretches of time staring into space, then writing a bit, and then staring into space a bit more. It’s here that the connections are made and the insights are formed. And it is a process that stubbornl... See more

The issue isn’t that you’re not taking enough notes. It’s that most systems are built for archiving , not exploration. They encourage collecting over engaging. You highlight passages, copy quotes, or jot down insights, but unless you do something with them, they just sit there—gathering digital dust.

What all these category-confusing approaches have in common is that the benefit of note-taking decreases with the number of notes you keep. More notes will make it more difficult to retrieve the right ones and bring related ones together in a playful way. But it should be just the opposite: The more you learn and collect, the more beneficial your n

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