Doodle Day

What the day is

Doodle Day is observed on March 7. Doodling is treated as evidence of inattention, and the evidence points the other way.

Origin and background

The study usually cited had participants listen to a deliberately tedious recorded message. Half were given a shading task to do while listening; half simply listened. Afterward, the group that had been doodling recalled noticeably more of the content than the group that had not.

The explanation offered is that a boring task leaves spare attention, and spare attention goes to daydreaming, which is a far more effective competitor for the mind than shading shapes. A small repetitive motor task occupies just enough capacity to block the drift without displacing the listening. Doodling is not adding effort; it is crowding out something worse.

A second line of evidence concerns drawing and memory generally. Experiments comparing people who write a word down against people who draw it have consistently found the drawn version better remembered, across ages and including in older adults. The effect appears to come from combining visual, motor and semantic processing in one act.

The word itself is older than the habit's reputation. Doodle meant a fool or simpleton in early modern English, and the sense of aimless drawing is comparatively recent, which is roughly how the activity has been regarded.

The practical implication for meetings is worth stating: a person drawing in the margin of a notebook is more likely to be following than the person staring politely at the speaker.

How to take part

• Doodle through your next phone call and see what you retain.
• Draw a concept rather than writing it when you want to remember it.
• Stop assuming a doodling colleague is disengaged.
• Keep paper by the phone, which is where most doodling happens anyway.
• Let children doodle while listening rather than making them sit still.