I'm afraid, my post may not respect rule #2 as in reality it's a multi-purpose tool but one that can only single task too. Allow me to explain ;)
I take all my notes (and drafts absolutely everything) using a pen(cil) and paper, either in a pocket notebook or in a custom-made A5/A6 notebook (nothing fancy but if you're curious its latest iteration is visible here, the post in French but the photos should suffice).
I love this setup a lot more than I ever liked writing on a computer/device. I've been using a computer since de early 80s and I'm a decent typist, most of what I write will end up in a digital form of some sort so it's not like I'm a Luddite. It's just that I prefer the unrivaled tranquility of the pen/paper combo, it's incomparable portability, and both it's slowness and unrivaled speed.
- No distractions, no notifications. No ads. No Fomo.
- No tracking or spying either.
- No batteries, no upgrades, no updates, and no crashes.
- It's sturdy as it can withstand me sitting on it (my pocket notebook is often stored in my jeans back pocket). Heck, even if I teared my notebook to pieces I could probably still use it ;)
- It works well under the sun, when the weather is as hot as a politician's promises of much better tomorrows, or when it's as cold as a banker's heart (when it's that cold, a pencil is probably the better choice compared to fountain pen or a ballpoint pen). And it can be used when it's raining too.
But how can it be slow and fast at the same time? If you can touch type, writing longhand is slower. I'm not a pro typist but I type much faster than I trace words on paper, even in cursive. But this slowness is also a great opportunity to not rush things. And then, that slowness is apparent only because, along the years, I've devised my very own shorthand that makes it so I can write longhand at least as quick as I can type. Plus I can freely mix words and quick sketches using the same pen/notebook.
It's a highly focused tool that beyond its apparently very limited capacity—it can do a single thing at a time only, and it has no CPU and no RAM to speak of... beside the very little that sit between my ears, I mean—that can still do a lot of very different things:
- writing: todo, errands, ideas, fictions, poetry, a love letter, or just an address. And so on.
*drawing/sketching. Depending the paper, one can also do watercolors or gouaches. - Do some math.
- play games.
- Quickly draw a map/plan to go some place.
- keep info you need,
- It can also be used to share info... by removing a sheet of paper (say, the love letter you just wrote) and give it to someone (no that was not how it all started for little kid-me back then when I was sending love notes on pages, whose pages I teared of my composition notebook, to my sweetheart while we were both very intensively not listening to the teacher :p
- And it can also do origami quite well, if you're into origami.
I am curios about using pen and paper more, but I don't want to do the extra step of having to write again digitally. But this has made me think, how much do I need to have digitally anyway? I also don't want to do it the other way around, aka. writing digitally to paper on a regular basis.
You say that most of what you write will end up digitally, do you do some sort of editing to improve the text or do you just copy it? (depending on what it is ofc)
One thing that helps me not having to digitise notes is limiting what I do with them:
Shopping lists, temporary notes of any kind (such as planning) are done in the notebook. It’s not a problem for them to stay there. In fact, even when I’m doing computer work it feels like I have extra “screen” space to work with (and less clutter on screen).
If I’ll need access to certain notes on my computer later, I’ll make the notes on my phone which currently sync. I’ll eventually stop doing this, as I’ve decided I’m happier with more notes on paper. The phone can very quickly scan pages of notes to a single PDF with the right app. So it’s increasingly better to use pen and paper and scan later if it’s essential.
A lot of my notes do have a digital part of them so to speak, often in form of links. Like if I'm planning a trip it's nice to have a link to the hotel, rental car, restaurants etc.
But on the other hand it's not a must. And I'll add in my digital calendar when to check in etc. So I could add link to the hotel there.
I think what I want most is an epaper tablet like remarkable or supernote.
That’s a very good point. Some cases are still very internet adjacent, making paper and pen a bit awkward. If they have to be shared with a group, that’s another concern.
I think group-chats would help with that. And also when the info is digital and I don't really need it on paper. I have a friends bday coming up soon, so he wrote a list of what we wants from people. I wouldn't feed the need to have that on paper.
On the other hand I want as little as possible in the tech gigants. So I'm even thinking of emptying my contacts-list of all personal info and only have their phone number and name.
And also copy bdays from Facebook to.. somewhere else. I guess this is where the struggle with pen and paper comes in for me. I'd love to do some bullet journal ish note taking. But it can feel like such a hassle when you need more space somewhere, like adding a bday between two others.
I’ve copied birthdays from social media apps to a calendar app on my phone. Not a very big leap, but for some reason I couldn’t make the cognitive transition direct to paper for those. It will take another step or two. Escaping big tech is a noble goal.
I need to change calendar app too, I'm using Google now. It's really nice to get the notifications as well
I do. I consider all writing a draft and all re-writing an opportunity to edit it. And since I need to write drafts it's not like I was wasting my time with fancy extra steps ;)
Note that as far as my notes are concerned, I don't copy them digitally as I don't need a digital copy at all. They serve as an inspiration or a reference that I don't need to access on a computer at all, I access them through my (analog) setup.
It's a Zettelkasten (a fancy German word to say 'box of cards' that is both a note-taking and management system). All my notes are simply and directly moved from my DIY notebook to my references archives. Hence, if you checked the link in my first post, my notebook being both A5 and A6 sized (which is the size of my index cards). No rewriting is ever required.
Nowadays, Zettelkasten is considered digital by most younger users but the concept was formalized many years ago as an analog system and has been in existence as an analog system... for as long as people were able to write on slips of papers. Personally, I see zero interest in having mine digital so it stays analog, it works really well ;)
Which is an excellent question, imho :)
Ooh okay! I see. Yeah I've head of Zettelkasten, it seems nice!