Your phone is the worst place for journaling.

It's a source of many distractions and what should help us be productive, is making things worse.

We are always busy, we don't what is to be with our thoughts. Being busy is not the same as being productive.

See we tackle too many things at the same time, and we spread our focus thin. When we journal on our phones, we are not paying the attention that journaling deserves.

We never look back to revisit our previous journaling notes

How often do you read through your past journal entries on your phone?

I bet it is about a handful of times. Ryder Carroll has a particular entry in his book "Technology has flooded our lives with more content than we can possibly absorb, washing away our attention spans in the process".

The phone itself is distracting and one of the reasons why we don't take time to reflect and look back at our entries.

Your mind is already wandering to what's the latest cat meme on Tiktok.

Now, let me show what a physical journal can do for you:

When using a notebook or a journal, it forces you to go offline

When you take your time to sit and write in your journal, you're isolating yourself from any distractions.

You're allowing yourself to recharge and be self-aware.

When I sit and start writing in my journal, the only thing I hear at that moment is my thoughts. There are no blue screens with shiny colourful apps with several new notifications. There are no distractions.

Just me and a blank piece of paper capturing my thoughts.

Notebooks, in contrast to apps, won't force you to a specific ecosystem

Notebooks will evolve with you and their function is only limited by your imagination

As Ryder Carroll refers to those apps "They struggle to address the limitless variability and evolutionary nature of our individual needs". We are all different, and that is why we often struggle to work with certain apps.

It's not suited to every specific need we have.

We evolve with time, as we learn more, as we experience more. The notebook can fit into our needs because its use is only limited by our imagination and creativity.

"Their function is limited only by the imagination of their owner" - Ryder Carroll.

If you are looking to journal, grab a pen and a notebook.

Allow yourself to disconnect and have a moment with yourself for a few moments. Your mind rests from all the overstimulation given by our devices.

Having time to journal is the same as having the time to think for yourself.