[ButWhatFor]

I also find that handwriting notes forces a kind of “hear or read, digest quickly, rephrase in a short hand way the keep points so I can pay attention to the next thing I am hearing or reading”

That forced summarization I think does a lot for the brain. I find handwritten notes are almost not needed after the notes are written... your brain already put the summarized information in your head because you had to work with it to pick what was important.