If you’ve been in a meeting with me, you know I bring my laptop without fail. My dumb brain needs to take notes. That said, the process of typing while listening can be as distracting as it is engaging. At the very least, it stands between you and a natural conversation, especially in those moments when you’re still typing after the other person has finished talking.

Sure, you could try to type faster or find a shorthand, but I’ve found that both of these methods have a tendency to render text unreadable. The next obvious step is recording — with the other person’s permission, of course. Back when I was a cub reporter, standalone digital voice recorders were still a going concern.