[furyofantares]

If I'm trying to pay attention to something I'll use a notepad to jot down a tiny note about whatever happens to pop into my head so I can get back to paying attention without my wandering thoughts distracting me. People probably expect I'm writing down something related to the conversation/meeting but often it is unrelated, it's just a trick to keep my mind from exploring while I want to stay focused -- I often don't look at what I wrote down afterwards. I learned this trick from a therapist.

I also journal, but the benefit of handwriting there is the opposite of what you've described -- I think harder when typing because I exercise the ability to edit, which is counterproductive to my goals when journaling. I journal to gain an understanding of what's happening in my head, not to produce a work of lasting value, so just writing down what comes to mind instead of spending a bunch of effort trying to perfect my thoughts does a better job of capturing this.

Finally, I also use a notepad when trying to think through a particularly sticky problem. The free form nature is liberating and being able to be physically separated from a computer is useful in cases where I badly want to dive right into implementing the solution but need some space to make sure I fully understand the problem first.