Why I don't handwrite my daily journal
It’s all about finding the right medium that fits you best
If you spend enough time looking at the benefits of journaling online, you will find some guidance around the medium to use to capture your thoughts.
Many will advise of the benefits of handwriting in a paper (or digital paper) journal; and science has shown the engagement with different parts of the brain when handwriting compared to typing on a keyboard. There’s also a slightly romantic notion of sitting down on a comfortable chair with a warm drink nearby, and handwriting your morning thoughts (or whatever time journaling works best for you).
There’s others that will advise on using the technology that we have everyday with us to journal your thoughts throughout the day; either using an app on your phone or even capturing voice notes to journal.
There’s no right or wrong answer here; however I tried to start a handwriting journaling practice for years with limited success. My journaling method was solidified recently when moving to a digital word processor.
Why typing works for me over handwriting
Being an elder millennial with early access to computers, I grew up with technology. While we were still handwriting all our assessments at school, there were computer labs and typing classes in primary school. I personally had access to computers before 10, putting together 286 PCs with my now brother-in-law before being able to get a 386 machine of our own (good old Packard Bell).
With that exposure to computers at such a young age, it wasn’t long before I was comfortable typing; and soon after I was more comfortable typing than I was handwriting.
Moving forward to today, while I can handwrite decently well it’s still not something I do often enough to ever be truly comfortable with it. I think as a society, many are in the same boat. Most of the documents we need to make now are digital; typed on a keyboard, a phone or even dictated with our voices.
So when I’ve tried to handwrite in either a paper or digital eink journal it’s not too long before I get frustrated with it; either because of mistakes in my handwriting or through general fatigue cause I’m not used to handwriting so much at any given time.
Some might find the benefits of handwriting a journal outweigh these downsides, but they have always presented a frustration and a barrier to myself. Getting my thoughts out of my head onto a page is always difficult and takes time.
Anything that introduces extra friction into that process adds frustration, distracting from the value of journaling in the first place.
Typing allows me to not focus on the medium or my frustrations with it, instead focusing more purely on getting the thoughts onto a page. There’s times where I can even get into a flow state when typing up my thoughts or something I’m working on (like this post).
My natural comfort with typing removes a layer of friction from my head to words on a page.
Why I prefer physical keyboards and a dedicated device to journal over smartphones and apps
I mentioned in my post on the Clicks keyboard accessory for the iPhone that I much prefer typing on a physical keyboard (even a Blackberry style keyboard) over any touch screen phone keyboard that is the default in the modern smartphone era.
This isn’t because I’m necessarily more accurate or faster on a physical keyboard, indeed it might very well be the opposite. However typing on physical keys is a tactile experience that encourages me to type more; something virtual keyboards lack for me, no matter how good the vibration feedback is.
So for a while, I was journaling on an old PSION PDA device. While its cramped, mushy physical keyboard presented some challenges; ultimately typing on this device was more encouraging and productive for myself.
Since that device died, I’ve moved my journaling onto a Writer Forte word processor (which is what I’m writing this post on).
There’s another reason why smartphones are not the best method of journaling for me, which is distraction. The distracting nature of phones and apps is covered extensively elsewhere, so I won’t expand too much here. But it is detrimental to the writing flow if your thoughts and attention are constantly disrupted by notifications, emails, messages, or anything else on your phone that draws your attention away from your thoughts as you journal.
Again, I’m not saying this is a steadfast rule. Some people have found great success in using their phone to journal their thoughts throughout their day.
Experiment and see what works best for you, like I have with myself.
Melder's Musings: Apple is playing a dangerous game
Apple launched a new sports app to help users keep track of live scores from sports games; sounds harmless right?
Well the dangerous part comes in their decision to include sports betting odds in the app.
Gambling is becoming an increasing stain in the modern world of sports, so Apple’s decision to include it in the Sports app is a little concerning for a company who’s brand value is tied a lot to the perception of protecting and doing what’s best for users.
It does feel like this addition maybe leading to something more down the line. With Apple increasing getting into the sports streaming game, are they looking to open up a new revenue stream in the sports gambling market too?
You may ask why; Apple are the richest company in the world, they don’t need to sell out their values to make more money.
Ahhh but they are just another company. Like many other companies today, they are under pressure from investors to show increasing growth; despite that likely not being sustainable or good for humanity in general.
Like many other companies are experiencing post-COVID, revenues are stagnating. Other tech companies such as Microsoft, Meta and Google have been trying to appease the investors by cutting costs to maintain profit. Disguised as making companies more efficient, the technology layoffs are primarily driven by cost cutting.
Apple already runs a pretty tight ship workforce wise; they don’t have the “luxury” of trying to cut costs via a reduced workforce. So they must find new avenues to make money.
I feel over the next few years, Apple’s brand value of being a consumer champion will be tested as the investor pressure for increased growth is applied and Apple’s existing hardware divisions stagnate.
I don’t trust Apple and their products because I feel they want what’s best for me personally; I choose them because they have the most to lose if they break the trust attached to their brand.
As they need to get more into the services game to increase revenue; that customer-first trust built into the brand will start to evaporate as clear plays to extract more money from customer base come into play. Just think of all the ads you see on the App Store from a company that put on such a crusade against advertising practices of other tech companies?
I sincerely hope Apple don’t get into sports gambling, an increasing plague in our society. But putting betting odds in their app does feel like they are testing the waters of acceptability to keep revenue options open in the future.