In Praise of Pen and Paper

I’ll never give up my Post-It notes until they pry them from my cold, dead hands!

Writing notes in my phone just doesn’t have the same impact as scribbling them on a notepad does. Maybe it’s because I write so much over the course of the week, my tiny brain doesn’t know what it’s supposed to remember – I can’t expect to retain all of it! I’ll sometimes put a grocery list on my phone. But I even depend on an old-fashioned date book over my Google calendar. Thank you, science, for backing me up.

Scribbling on a piece of paper stimulates our reticular activating system. By alerting those nerve pathways, we’re telling the brain to pay attention, this is important! Holland Haiis is an expert on digital detox, aka going without your electronics for a prolonged period of time. She says using paper will boost productivity and give you a much-needed break from staring at a screen.

And then there are the obvious advantages: paper doesn’t need batteries or charging. If you drop it, it won’t break. Notifications won’t pop up to distract you. It doesn’t buzz or ring. No one can track you on a piece of paper. It doesn’t have ads based on the last piece of paper you used. A piece of paper won’t interrupt you with another incoming piece of paper. The only downsides are paper cuts and, in my case, illegible writing. Otherwise, paper beats the phone, almost every time.