welcome back to issue #10 Physical vs Digital Diary 📔
Today we will discuss about why I am starting to write a diary and the tough decision of choosing between a physical vs a digital personal diary.
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Why am I writing a diary !
So before going into the exact reason, I have already been writing🖋 my diary/journal/gratitude journal/goals/affirmation together all in one file(on my iPad) for about 3 years now, almost everyday( would say 95% of days)…
So here’s why I am going to write in a separate space almost everyday. Last week I saw a short documentary on ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’📔 ! I have known about this book since 10th grade. It was an optional book we had to read and would get questions from it in the final exams… but instead our school went with the book ‘Three Men in a Boat’ …. so with the time constrains around, I couldn’t read The Diary of Anne Frank ! When I saw this video, I was like woah, lets go,… after the video I was stuck on how much they had to suffer and endure at the time, but the fact that what she was doing ie; writing here personal diary at first, later ended up becoming such a good view back into the harsh times and her life and feelings !..
Inspired by this I felt like it would be a good idea to write something short small everyday about my present life, thoughts, feelings, things happening around, what inspires me,,, in all just everything I would like to share and also perhaps things I would not like to share at the moment but the things that would be pretty awesome to come back and see for myself in a few years … Also I in no way am thinking of being the next Anne Frank, but I just love the idea of how this can be such an amazing long term project… imagine me reading this like in my 80’s 👴 or maybe publish my diary in that age or maybe my great grandchildren 👶 reading about me haha !
Overall this just seems like a real fun idea to me and it won’t be anything new cause I have already been writing like 5-10 mins each day in my present journal/diary ,,,, only new thing here is that I am making this a separate entity whereas it was previously merged into one with journal/goal/tasks/ gratitude writing thingy…
The big question !
Physical vs Digital Diary 🤔 ?
This is kind of an important question for me and I guess would be for most of you, if you think of starting to write a diary ! Well if you see our dear Anne Frank would have only had the physical option, with of course the choice of using a typewriter or writing using a pen.🖋
Lucky us, we have two broad options; using a digital platform or using a physical platform.
When thinking of a digital platform what comes to mind is- typing on a device, audio notes on a device, maybe video recording, etc.
Thinking about Physical medium- Writing with a pen or typing ! Now ofcourse engraving on a stone is a possibility but let’s be mindful of how much time that’s gonna take !
For me, being inspired by Anne Frank, my first choice is using a physical diary to write with a pen (so real) ! So I went to the stationary close to my place to look for a diary! But I was hit with so many choices here, how many pages, what color , size, what kind of paper , lined/plane pages, …. it was just a lot… so I was like okay lets look this stuff up, think about what exactly I want and then get something later…
This made me think and compare the way I had been writing till now, which was on my iPad , I use the Notability app and I can customise everything I might want here !
So I thought, why not go hybrid here , since I already have an iPad with an apple pencil and the Notability app, why not use this. I will be able to write my diary(like write with hand using my apple pencil, instead of typing) and it will also be digital !
Sounds great right ? But let’s look at the pros and cons which made me make a final decision-
Cons-
Although I am physically writing , with my 3 years of iPad experience, even with the paper-like screen protector, it’s not exactly like the paper and pen feeling (the real can’t be matched yet, writing on real paper is an experience in itself)
I won’t have a physical object; the diary which has like words written with real ink that I wrote ! I definitely can print my diary , but this won’t be exactly as good as the real deal !
A digital diary will lack the touch and feel of being real ! Like me taking a Instax polaroid picture for some special event and stick it right away in the diary , this real feeling is unmatched !
This can be super expensive if you don’t already have an iPad or apple pencil and decide to get them just for writing a diary ! In my case, I already have them and have been using them for Med School !
Pros-
This will be super portable, compared to a nice big leather bound 400 page diary I would like to have , which will for sure be over 1 pound ! In my case I will be travelling very often and carrying a physical diary can be task in itself….
Using my iPad for sure will be economical ! Even if I use a diary, I am sure 400 pages would last me around 3-6 months , so lets take 3 good diaries for a year, which will be like $20-$30,,,, also the pens I would have to buy haha….
My Notability notes are set on auto backup to cloud, so I always have a 2nd copy !
I can index and search my notes for a day super quick, or by even word or name of a person , hehe, a good thing to easily search back, in case needed,,,,
Privacy can be a big thing, well for me my diary if physical would be kept at home, only person who would really read it is my Mom, but that’s cool cause I am super open with her, but when traveling to university soon , I will not want anyone being able to read it ! On the other side, my Notability app has the option to lock my notes with a password !!
I can super easily insert pics, video links, web links and many more media on the digital diary !
So well, if you see for me, the pros outweigh the cons … hence I am going on with the option of digital diary on my iPad using Notability !
Still there is definitely a part of me who really wants to have a physical diary, so for this, I am looking on getting a diary and try physical diary for 30 days in the future… or maybe I can get a small compact diary and use it just for special events , like putting in real pictures , a leaf maybe , tickets from game with friends, a petal of the rose I give to my girlfriend (lol, when I have one in the future , hehe), anyways will update on this (I mean the diary haha) sometime in the future…
So that’s about this topic.
📸 Picture of the week
Beautiful Megenta flowers, Mom and I saw while on a hike last week …
📹 Here is this weeks video: Like, share , Subscribe and Comment :)
I love this post, it feels so close to me! I love notebooks, pens, etc, I ve got sparks in my eyes every time I enter a stationery shop lol. I don't like writing a diary but sometimes I would write down my thoughts, ideas and recently I started a new notebook with information I learn about cultures of different countries and history which is kind of a new passion of mine. I also plan to write travel journals in the future.
I see the digital journal works much better for you (btw 400 pages in 3 months?? wow, your life really seems so eventful!), but I think the feeling of writing with your hand and sticking some pictures and other things inside is unmatched! On a nice evening, with some light music in the background, it feels little like travelling in time. Especially when you get a really cool notebook, mine looks like a magic book and smells like an ancient temple (made of leather) :D
I think your final conclusion is right. And it is not like you have to write something in the physical diary every day. It feels valuable to have something tangible in the world so dominated by technology.
That idea with the rose petals made me smile, it is so sweet ;) And I am sure you'll have plenty candidates when you're not so busy!
A beautiful pic, the colors are so vivid! I like wild flowers too.
haha a reason why I try not to visit a stationery ! there are so many things I want like a kid hehe !
Your new notebook sounds interesting ! For the travel journal I really like how a YouTube creator- "Casey Neistat" does it, you should check out his videos on travelling with his son , he makes lovely sketches and uses his travel journals from past to make a movie/ video sharing his experience! Like they went some place in Vietnam and the house had a live wire in the shower hanging over it for the heater, so they made a lovely sketch about it !!!
Woah makes me wanna get a look at your amazing leather book !!1 yeah I will try and get a small notebook for physical stuff !!
Good idea! Also don't think much about publishing it in the future! You might then just wanna try to make it superficially good for people to read afterwards, and you might not write something which YOU liked but seem a trivial idea to others. Just a warning, i know you wouldn't do that :D
If I were to write a diary, it would just contain the lectures I watched in a day and the no. of YouTube videos i watched😂 I have some ideas and viewpoints about things but not comfortable writing them fearing someone will find it and make fun of me😆
Haha, me too, I have a notebook and write there what I got to know from youtube videos!
About the personal diary, you can just find a really good place to hide it or get a notebook with a lock or if you know any language people around you don't know you can write in this language. Hope it's useful :) Greetings!
Wow that's a good thing Black widow, I have a similar note in Ipad for such stuff !!!
Ahhh yeah the writing in a different language would be such a special power for you when you move abroad , haha probably no ppl will be able to read your Chinese in eg Germany ... !!! cool ! :)
Weird fish, yeah you are right !!! Yeah , if I start thinking about publishing or something it will take away the fun and affect the way I write, yup so I am totally writing free of any pressures ,,,:)
Ah maybe you should write still, we think that that others may feel our thoughts may be weird, but how amazing it would be land back on them later, (ps: only maybe if you able to keep it private I guess ) or maybe as a school friend of mine used to do, she used to write stuff, and then tear and throw the paper , haha helped her relax and get thoughts out of mind...
I love this post, it feels so close to me! I love notebooks, pens, etc, I ve got sparks in my eyes every time I enter a stationery shop lol. I don't like writing a diary but sometimes I would write down my thoughts, ideas and recently I started a new notebook with information I learn about cultures of different countries and history which is kind of a new passion of mine. I also plan to write travel journals in the future.
I see the digital journal works much better for you (btw 400 pages in 3 months?? wow, your life really seems so eventful!), but I think the feeling of writing with your hand and sticking some pictures and other things inside is unmatched! On a nice evening, with some light music in the background, it feels little like travelling in time. Especially when you get a really cool notebook, mine looks like a magic book and smells like an ancient temple (made of leather) :D
I think your final conclusion is right. And it is not like you have to write something in the physical diary every day. It feels valuable to have something tangible in the world so dominated by technology.
That idea with the rose petals made me smile, it is so sweet ;) And I am sure you'll have plenty candidates when you're not so busy!
A beautiful pic, the colors are so vivid! I like wild flowers too.
I've got sparks in my eyes every time i enter any shop 😂
I like the fact that you're making journals abt so many things! :D
haha a reason why I try not to visit a stationery ! there are so many things I want like a kid hehe !
Your new notebook sounds interesting ! For the travel journal I really like how a YouTube creator- "Casey Neistat" does it, you should check out his videos on travelling with his son , he makes lovely sketches and uses his travel journals from past to make a movie/ video sharing his experience! Like they went some place in Vietnam and the house had a live wire in the shower hanging over it for the heater, so they made a lovely sketch about it !!!
Woah makes me wanna get a look at your amazing leather book !!1 yeah I will try and get a small notebook for physical stuff !!
yeah lol a girl/girlfriend soon to be hehe <3
:)
Good idea! Also don't think much about publishing it in the future! You might then just wanna try to make it superficially good for people to read afterwards, and you might not write something which YOU liked but seem a trivial idea to others. Just a warning, i know you wouldn't do that :D
If I were to write a diary, it would just contain the lectures I watched in a day and the no. of YouTube videos i watched😂 I have some ideas and viewpoints about things but not comfortable writing them fearing someone will find it and make fun of me😆
Good luck with your work!
Haha, me too, I have a notebook and write there what I got to know from youtube videos!
About the personal diary, you can just find a really good place to hide it or get a notebook with a lock or if you know any language people around you don't know you can write in this language. Hope it's useful :) Greetings!
Wow that's a good thing Black widow, I have a similar note in Ipad for such stuff !!!
Ahhh yeah the writing in a different language would be such a special power for you when you move abroad , haha probably no ppl will be able to read your Chinese in eg Germany ... !!! cool ! :)
Weird fish, yeah you are right !!! Yeah , if I start thinking about publishing or something it will take away the fun and affect the way I write, yup so I am totally writing free of any pressures ,,,:)
Ah maybe you should write still, we think that that others may feel our thoughts may be weird, but how amazing it would be land back on them later, (ps: only maybe if you able to keep it private I guess ) or maybe as a school friend of mine used to do, she used to write stuff, and then tear and throw the paper , haha helped her relax and get thoughts out of mind...