Collections are not something that is common in my house. Knicknacks don’t fill our bookshelves. There are no tchotchkes scattered around my house. Trinkets make their way into the thrift store box as soon as they come into my house. 

Perhaps the only thing that I would admit to having too many of in my house are books - and I would be hard pressed to say that you can ever have “too many” books. Nearly every room in my house has a bookshelf, filled from top to bottom with books. And among those books is a specific category of bound papers: journals. 

I have a soft spot for journals. They can be completely blank on the inside. They can have prompts to help you with your gratitude. 

They may even contain dates and lines to help record your day. Yes, that is technically a diary but for adults, it is called a “memory book” so you don’t sound like you are 12. 

If I am in a bookstore, I’ll scan through the journals for sale like I don’t already have a dozen at home. I have been gifted journals over the years because people know I will use them - eventually. And the journals lying around my house likely have a page or two written on them, making them permanently mine rather than being able to be gifted.

While it could be argued that one person doesn’t need that many writing spaces, there is growing research that hand writing - versus type writing - is better for us. It is better for us physically; better for us mentally; better for us academically. 

As someone who grew up writing everything down, my brain is wired for this type of learning and processing. But I am also in the generation who was still in school as the first word processors came into being, quickly followed by computers so we were of the generation which had to adapt to the new technology. 

I have more electronic devices than I care to admit, know how to use AI and countless apps, and can Google a question before my children have picked up their hand-held computer, aka their smart phones. 

Yet, we have seen more and more people returning to pen and paper, something many of us never left behind. 

And there are many practical reasons to continue our reliance on paper while not abandoning new technology.

For starters, paper feels steady and sturdy to us. When we type, we lean toward trying to capture every thought, every idea, every word.

When you write by hand, you have to slow down just enough to choose what matters because your brain cannot hold every detail at once. When you write, you only capture what is actually needed so notes become shorter and thinking becomes clearer. 

As you write key points onto paper, this frees up more working memory for thinking and decision-making in the moment. Rather than a jumble of words on a screen, concise words on the paper - perhaps some nearly unrecognizable scribbles - help you focus and come to a conclusion quicker.

Another benefit of writing by hand is that your body is actively engaged. Your hand, eyes and mind must all work together. Handwriting can feel calming because it changes how your brain coordinates attention.

I am not advocating for throwing computers and phones out the window because digital documents absolutely have their place. Typed sources absolutely win for digital search. If I need a link, a file, a date, or an address, I want it in a system I can search in two seconds. 
In everyday life, many people do best with a hybrid system. Digital tools support storage, sharing and retrieval while paper supports reflection, planning and emotional steadiness.

In fact, I recently purchased a “digital notebook” so I can hand write my notes which are then converted into a typed document. Have I figured out how to use it, including organizing the documents and accessing my notes? Not yet but I have plenty of paper journals lying around to use in the meantime.