Following up on a previous post, I have too many unused paper journal notebooks in the form of Field Notes©. I need to frequently remind myself to use them, and this post intends to do just that. During the day, I’ll come to a point where I am exhausted sitting behind a computer screen and type. Then outcomes the pen and paper. Although some days lately I am getting more interested in paper rather than screens, but with both analog and digital, I can still create.
Digital notes are clean, minimal, and organized, whereas notebooks are scribbly, messy, and disorganized. That’s ok. They’re both aesthetically pleasing to me. Although I do realize that with doodles and strikethroughs that my paper journals are more mine than an app will be. Software note developers box you into a certain set of parameters, but in your notebook anything goes. You are in charge.
Notebooks don’t rely on batteries, an internet connection and no subscriptions. No forced upgrades and the format is time proof. It will still be there waiting on you to jot down your notes and doodles. If it is preserved properly, the journal will outlive you.
A paper journal will never require notification alerts and have a tactile feel that digital note-taking doesn’t. That feel of your writing implement against the uneven surface of the paper is more real than fingers string the keys on a screen.
Paper notebooks allow the ability to end and fold. You can chew it, set it on fire, cut snowflakes out of it or paper airplanes. Try that with any screen, and you’ll end up replacing the screen.
I’d rather draw marginalia faces, spirals, tacos, or flowers in the margins rather than rely on emoji in a straight line to express myself.
While I do find myself oscillating back and forth between analog and digital, the computers almost always wins out. But it is nice to know that if they fail, I have a wonderful backup device in my paper journal and typewriter.
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