I recently realized I post a lot more on reddit than on this blog. I also noted that a few of those comments I post on reddit could as well be considered blog posts and be published here. So, from now on, I will also publish them on the blog. Linking to the original discussion on reddit.
I’m curious to see if it helps me get a better understanding of what I’m thinking about certain questions, or if there is any trend building up. Note that I will republish them as they appeared on reddit, including typos.
Also, if I ever feel like doing it I may try to dig older comments worth republishing here too.
My participation to this reddit discussion “Balance between analog lifestyle and digital lifestyle and minimalism — Do any of you keep a diary?”.
Do any of you keep diary? And do you use analog version or digital? And what about calendar, do you use analog paper version or digital version or both?
I’ve been keeping a diary since the early 80s. In all and any form you can name. Paper, typewriter, computer, phone, tape recorder,…
What I love doing the most is writing and sketching in my paper notebook (handmade, as I like to build stuff) using my favorite fountain pen. But for many, many years I was also a very happy Day One user (a Mac/iOS app). It’s relatively recently I realized I wanted my journal completely off the Internet and off the computer. So, I went back to pen and paper.
Doing so, I feel at home.
My low-tech journal is a quiet place, there is no distraction. No noise. No updates. No bugs.
Also, I know I can trust its discretion and I feel more free to write what the funk I want, no matter how not flattering or not cool it may be for me. Knowing there is no one reading over my shoulder and there is no AI and algorithm trying to ‘help me write a better journal’ — the hell with that, I journal as I want, as badly and poorly as it pleases me, not like some algorithm thinks I should. My journal is not an average. It’s mine, with all its faults ;)
But I must also say that I never considered my old journals as precious memories (they would have take too much room, so I regularly shredded them).
Today, aged 50+, I realize it was probably a big mistake.
At least, I’m slowly starting to understand that as I feel like browsing through my now long gone teen and (young and not so young) adult memories is… impossible. For a while I had been keeping scans of them but those too I trashed them.
Calendar?
Mine is digital since Apple made it possible to have it synced on the iPhone, but for decades prior to that I was a devotee and very satisfied Filofax/paper organizer user. I loved my Filofax.
And to be honest, I feel more and more like using one again as I’m getting desperately tired of the nightmarish, and utterly stupid, dystopia the promised ‘digital revolution’ has turned our society into.
What’s keeping me of switching back to a Filofax is the sad impression I get when I look at their actual line of organizers that Filofax (as well as the few other brands still available) are now 100% focused on selling cute and precious organizers. Fashion accessories.
Maybe their entire business is now with people looking for that kind of things. I don’t know, and I don’t mind it the slightest. It’s just that it’s not what I’m looking for.
I’m looking for practical and sturdy, aka an organizer that will withstand real day use and that will lay flat when I open it (from the ‘How to make an organizer for dummies’, chapter 1, section 1,page 1), and not have it overcharged with gimmicky stuff.
Filofax, if you ever read this: a single one of your old-school Filofax would make me happy (I would even be likely to buy it in some of your fancy new colors). But since you’re already reading this, make it two: one personal-sized and one slim, thx a lot :P
Published: 2024/04/25