Digital planner vs paper notebook, my 2025 experiment is over

I spent January through June using a fancy tablet planner with all the apps and syncing, then switched back to a plain spiral notebook I bought at a drugstore in Portland for $4.50. The digital one looked great on screen but I kept opening the wrong tabs or losing my place, and my weekly checklist just became a list of things I forgot to move over. The paper notebook wins because I actually flip back through it, and seeing my own handwriting from March reminds me what I was worried about then and how it resolved. I also noticed I write down more ideas in paper, like quick sketches for client logos, whereas on the tablet I'd just stare at a blank template. It's not about old versus new tech, it's about what makes me show up every day without effort. Has anyone else gone backwards on this after investing in the digital setup, or am I the only one who finds the paper version less stressful? What made you switch sides permanently?

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aliceharris8d ago

...and honestly the funniest part is I did the exact same thing back in 2021 with a $300 e-ink tablet that I was sure would change my life. I remember sitting there at my desk, stylus in hand, feeling like some sort of futuristic genius for about two weeks. Then I lost the charging cable, the screen froze mid-note during a client call, and I just grabbed the nearest legal pad out of desperation. The thing that really got me though wasn't the reliability, it was that I started doodling in the margins again. That's where all my best ideas actually come from, not from a perfectly aligned digital grid. I still have that tablet somewhere in a drawer, but my paper notebooks have their own shelf now, and I wouldn't trade the chaos for anything.