[runjake]

It's better because it's in your own words and hopefully, matching your own thought patterns, so it's easier to revisit later.

I read source material (dev docs, Wikipedia, whatever) and reformulate the concepts in my own words, adding my own analogies and elaborating where needed.

A lot of what you said sounds like you don't necessarily get value out of keeping notes for all these random topics.

Until you have a well-defined purpose for taking notes, consider not?