It's been a bit of a struggle.

"How about March 8th?"
"-Hmmm..."

I still instinctively grab my phone, but then have to immediately let go of it. Yes, I've gone back to a paper planner. A little black A6 Leuchtturm1917 one with an orange Drehgriffel Nr.1 attached in its equally orange Pen Loop. You can already guess where this is going.

I'm not here to persuade you to get out of your phone and touch grass (though it's still good advice), but I have noticed an internal breaking point in the last year. I've already been 'externalizing' my work thoughts and actions, by logging them into a bullet journal (the simplistic-markings-and-text version, not the colossal graphic hydra that the Instagram-community moulded it into), and I found that moving things out of the digital and into the physical provided a measure of peace. Not much, mind you. Deadlines remain deadlines no matter how you dress them up or down. Appointments do not waver. Birthdays remain part of life's clockwork.

That breaking point though. It wasn't a specific event, but I do remember scrolling through the Calendar app and getting the distinct feeling that, yes, this was another feed. Things just slotted in automatically and there wasn't as much of a feel for each of the events. Do I get that with a paper planner? Well, yes. Kind of.

This is the same issue I have with e-books. That is, I don't have an issue with e-books, or e-readers for that matter. I read most of my books on a Kindle after all. Yet, those are novels or stories. Whenever I use a work of reference, I find it works better as a physical book. Learning Japanese? Get me a physical copy of Genki. Reading Japanese fairy tales to practice? That can be done on an e-reader. The physicality of a book helps in retaining where I can find the info; a bit of a must for reference materials. Search is great, but knowing where to find stuff strengthens its connections and bonds to other things. Retrieving information physically reinforces its place within the entire model.

At least, that's how it works for me. It's why with digital information I prefer "networked" data. A wiki makes sense to me. Most of my digital notes are in an Obsidian vault (with the Graph View tucked into the corner of course). Mindmaps are still one of the first tools I reach for when trying to untangle a problem or gain an overview. Getting a sense of place is important to me.

And so, turning my digital Calendar app into a paper planner makes me more aware of dates and appointments. It's not just a D&D session on Saturday, it's also the feel of how the week becomes busy with meeting friends, or more filled up with doctor appointments. It's like how the bullet journal reinforces the "feel" of the work week whenever I retrieve info from it. In a similar fashion, the planner strengthens the feel of my personal week for me.

And whatever tool make you rest in that feeling, rather than pull you through a feed of information without control, is the one that works.