[AGB]

Originally Posted by Prestidigitweeze

(1) I'm in the process of editing that post and had already taken out the word hobbyist precisely because it could be construed to mean dilettante, as you've taken it to mean here and which wasn't my intention at all.

(2) Since your response to my post is making certain of the same points I've just made, and since my purpose was not to dismiss note-takers or the need for backups, as others have done here, I humbly suggest that you reread it and glean my actual position before investing my words with that of some other adversary.

I'm not going to edit my post because you changed your mind.

Backup copies aren't as necessary for physical books because books are immediately accessible in the physical sense. They don't disappear whenever your host device happens to crash.

Again, you can have all your notes on a sd card, and another as backup. It's not hard. Besides, that way you're sure you can actually bring all of your notes without having to bring all the books. Also, you can back them up online pretty easy. Hell, if you're really lazy you can email them to yourself as a file for back up purposes.

Digital notes are also searchable, easily copied and distributed, and easily sorted by various keywords or other parameters.

That possibility is very real, however, for students who need to review all of their notes again before taking a test or writing a paper.

No it's not "very real" before taking a test. It's called "backup". Just like you'd have that paper you're writing backed up.

And while your lack of attachment to your own notes might seem to you to be admirably pragmatic, it is perhaps unrealistic to expect everyone to use and treat their notes exactly as you treat yours.

Actually, it was not to seem pragmatic. I enjoy using a paper notepad and my fountain pen (I'm a lefty and much to my surprise, a fountain pen was the answer to me stabbing the page). I use paper because it is easier to draw lines, get a quick quote and so on - on the go. But for further use I either write the thing I intended to write, or if it's a bigger project, I will type in the notes in a more or less pure form. That way my notes can much easier be searched and sorted, rather than scribbling at the corner of the newspaper, margin of the magazine and print out a pubmed article, all so I can scribble in the margins of that and have to carry it with me to have my notes.

I am fully aware that some people think modern technology is much better than anything old and vice versa. I am pointing out that the arguments you put forth for not having notes in digital form aren't rational. Just like my use of a fountain pen is only seemingly rational (lefty etc.). In reality, is just a method I have found that works for me, and I don't claim there is something inherently wrong with typing, as you seem to do for having notes in a digital format.

Oh, btw, you mention that "professionals can't afford to have it in digital form", all the while accusing me of claiming that my way is the right way (in other words, that is). The problem is, of course, that I do take notes for a living. I'm a journalist, and I happen to be able to "afford" having things in a digital format despite me taking notes for a living (among other things). By that you have actually done exactly what you accused me of doing: That your way is the only way for a professional who has to rely on his notes.