Why handwriting is better than tapping away on your phone

I remember my early days in journalism in the late 80s - the days of Amstrad, remember? - when I would write a piece longhand and then type it up.

It seems inconceivable now but at the time it seemed impossible for my brain to transmit what I wanted to say straight onto a keyboard.

Then, faced with the pressure of deadlines, it suddenly wasn’t and there was no looking back.

I do still carry a notebook when I’m going to meetings and tastings but don’t really use one much otherwise, not least because I often fail to transfer the current one to the bag I’m using then can’t remember where I’ve put it.

However it occurred to me recently that using a notebook was the perfect companion strategy to reading more in order to spend less time on my phone.

Of course I’m still going to use my laptop for writing articles and posts but for recording ideas, observations - the kind of things for which I currently use iPhone’s Notes - it would be so much more enjoyable.

I’ve also noticed more and more people, like the woman (above) I cheekily snapped in Oxford the other week, are using them - in cafés, in restaurants, on the tube…

Talking to my friend Jess about this yesterday she waxed lyrical about hers. She uses it to record thoughts, ideas and images (she draws as well as writes in it) “I have it with me all the time. It’s very much not a work notebook.”

But what if you have to carry a work notebook too? And an actual book?

And what makes a perfect notebook? A5 is too small for discursive thoughts. A4 takes up too much space. Despite the popularity of Moleskine I find a hardback too rigid for easy page turning. A spiral-bound reporter pad is just too cheap and studenty.

However I think I may have found the perfect notebook which could be a game changer.

Soft-backed, slightly floppy, the cover is a plain, rather lovely forest green though Waterstones, which sells it, oddly calls it emerald. (I don’t like those notebooks with pretentious titles like Notes and Thoughts or Musings.)

Wipeable too which is rather useful - apparently it’s vegan. I’ve never come across a vegan notebook before.

Well spaced lines for sprawly writing - although Jess points out that a notebook with dots is better for drawing and creating charts. (Not sure I’m up to charts.)

Best of all it’s a good size - B6 - which is not too large to fit in a decent sized handbag And at £9.99 it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg as most notebooks do these days. Oddly it’s cheaper than the A5 size which must be more popular.

Then there’s pens or pencils - a whole other issue I’ll leave to another time.

Once back in the handwriting habit there’s no reason not to write postcards or even letters.

I mentioned a while back how much pleasure an unexpected postcard had been to friends and family.

There’s also a website called The Sunday Letter Project run by an enterprising stationer called Wildflower Illustration Co which encourages people to write one handwritten letter every Sunday - to anyone, even a stranger in which case you can take it along to a participating bookshop or ‘Letter Keeper’ who will pass it on and maybe give you one in return. You can find the list here.

So let’s switch off our phones. Let’s hear it for handwriting!

Do you have a notebook, if so what kind and what do you use it for?

If this post made you immediately want to go out and buy a notebook do please give it a ❤️