Why I still keep a paper notebook

Every January I try a new notes app. Every February the paper notebook wins again, and I have stopped apologizing for it.

Paper has three properties no app has matched. It is always on. It never shows me my other thoughts while I am trying to have one. And it is slow enough that only things I actually care about survive the trip from brain to page.

The slowness is the feature. Typing at full speed produces a transcript of my anxiety. Writing by hand produces a filter. Most of what I think, on the way to the page, turns out not to be worth keeping — and paper quietly throws it away before it ever becomes a notification.