Dog Diaries & Cat Calendars | Digital vs Paper.
By Becky Atkinson ( Little Dog Instagram Manager and Blogger)
I’m so busy, I’m not even available yesterday.
‘It’s time to wake up’. ‘Meeting at 10am’. ‘Collect child from school’ ‘Dental appointment’. ‘You haven’t met your water intake goals’. ‘Your bedtime reminder is set’. Life seems to have become one long ‘beep’ of things to do.
Are you grateful when your electronic device buzzes another alert at you? Or are you a paper champion who loves the silent, good old-fashioned pen and paper as a means of nailing it?
Like many things in life, people’s preferred way of organising their schedule is greatly polarised and folk swear by their chosen method. Many argue the only way is digital for the efficiency that technology brings, while another faithful group remain dedicated to all things paper.
So which one are you, Paper Queen or Tech Devotee?
Unsurprisingly, as stationery producers, here at The Little Dog Laughed we are fans of the handbag size diary and the stalwart wall calendar. And this is why we think ultimately, when push comes to shove, paper top trumps digital!
With such a reliance on our phones, laptops, tablets and electronic watches which kindly ping reminders at us all day long, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the death of the traditional paper diary and calendar is nigh. But we think not. On the contrary. Not only have our trustworthy friends survived the digital revolution, sales of calendars and diaries indicate that they are enjoying a resurgence of a seemingly fashionable return to a simpler way of living. Surprisingly, demand arises from all ages and not just from the older generation.
2023 Animal Diary | Scruffy Mutt Dog Diary
So, why are some ditching the digital way of life and why are calendars and diaries still must-have stationery items in the twenty twenties?
It might sound astonishing, but as well as being easier to access at times, paper products can also be simpler to work with. Visually, all the information needed is there, in one place – and it’s fast and it’s easy. No need to click on a new tab, switch between apps or launch a new programme. Have you ever sat in a meeting with your humble paper diary open, smiling internally as those with the latest tech apologetically fail to access their info?
What’s more, research shows that the complex task of handwriting with a pen or pencil has positive effects on memory retention. In other words, you’re less likely to forget something that you’ve written down. Experiments conducted in 2009 by Smoker, Murphy & Rockwell at the University of Central Florida also concluded that digital note-taking is less efficient after handwriting notetakers completed tasks 25% faster than their digital-notetaking counterparts in the study. In short, if you want more chance of remembering it, write it in your traditional paper diary or stick it on the calendar rather than typing or verbalising it.
Diary? Why would I bother, my iPhone does everything?
True! And the average age of phone owners is steadily coming down year on year, but in many families, the calendar hung up in the kitchen is still the place where meal planning, lifts required, clubs, nights out and of course, the all-important family holidays are recorded. Live-in gran who doesn’t have every app on her phone still wants to be included in domestic plans and the conventional calendar will for years to come be a helpful way of recording good behaviour, tidy bedrooms, brushing teeth and homework completed without moaning. It crosses and unites all the generations.
Another advantage of keeping paper in one’s repertoire is that you don’t need a Wi-Fi connection or access to the internet to access your paper diary or calendar. You might think this sounds unlikely in this modern day, but have you ever been to the Western Isles of Scotland or taken a canal boat holiday in Wales? What happens when there’s no signal, the internet is ‘down’ or when the app is not working for some reason? Yep. We’ve all experienced that hair-tugging frustration. Use a paper diary or calendar instead and this is never going to be a problem. Paper diaries do not go down or suddenly become inaccessible. (Let’s conveniently skip over menopausal brain fog, that’s a medical issue and therefore doesn’t count!)
2023 Dog Calendar | Scruffy Mutts Dog Calendar
And another paper thing.
Unlike their online equivalents, paper diaries and calendars can’t be hacked. OK, so if you want to keep your journaling diary private, a little ingenuity may be required to keep it from prying eyes but a good hiding place should suffice. (Failing this, try covering it with an innocuous cover, write in code or buy a lock!) Oh, and with paper, there’s no inadvertent deleting of information, provided you don’t lose said diary!
2023 Diary | Diary for Garden Lovers
Last but by no means least, the dreaded lockdowns of 2020 and beyond taught us much about the value of home time and the importance of the work-life balance. It’s wearing to get constant notifications from your phone or tablet. Pulling the plug on electronic devices and reverting back to a paper system gives the feeling of being a little less accessible. A little less plugged in. A little more present for the times that matter. Fewer beeps, buzzes, rings and interruptions must surely be a good thing, yes?
A diary needn’t just be utilised for reminders, errands and appointments, it can also present a place of holistic benefit for journaling thoughts and feelings and unloading emotions. Keeping a diary has been documented to bring about good psychological and physical benefits. A quick Google search on ‘What kind of people keep diaries?’ reveals that diarists are usually motivated, confident, ambitious individuals with uncluttered brains. Sounds attractive, right? In a world where good mental health has become very much a focus, it’s yet another reason why you might just want to keep a paper diary in your life. And who knows, if you keep hold of your autobiographical musings, you could become the next literary hero, the modern-day Samuel Pepys, Anne Frank or Virginia Woolf.
You might think that the traditional stationery items like our dog calendars and cat diaries are on their way out, but it seems that the demise of these paper dinosaurs is still a long way off. They are alive and well. Alive and kicking even. Despite the huge advances in the way we manage our information, the paper diary and wall calendar very much preserve a place in our lives. Professionals use them as a way of keeping track of meetings and deadlines or personalising their work space, while celebrities and social media influencers love them, professing them as a means to keep them grounded.
2023 Desk Calendar | Flower Desk Calendar
The computer age has vastly improved our lives in so, so many different ways and for sure, electronic calendars have their advantages (such as the ability to share, sync and set reminders) but some things just don’t need fixing, and maybe the good old-fashioned diary, desk calendar and wall calendar are worthy examples.
Yes, it’s very exciting when your shiny new phone is delivered with all its bells and whistles, but will it age as beautifully and as gracefully as a diary? The sound of the pages turning. The feel of the paper quality. The little page marker ribbon. The useful ‘month at a glance’ pages. The handy ‘notes’ and ‘notable dates’ sections. The dedicated birthday and anniversary pages. The year-to-view planner. The ingenious pocket for receipts and notes. We are of course describing a Little Dog Laughed diary but many other options are available!
And the artwork. What about the artwork?
Oh the daily/monthly joy! Perhaps this is the real reason we still love our paper diaries and calendars. The eye, the brain, the heart and the soul ALL unite in their love of beautiful artwork. Art is good for you and art featuring a dog or cat is excellent for you! There are numerous studies showing how people feel better whether by creating art, consuming it or by simply being in the presence of something art-related. Little snippets of visual joy centre us, they calm us and they make us feel happy. They help us express our passions and interests (animals) and what is important in our lives. (Animals!).
2023 Desk Calendar | Dog Desk Calendar
Take a desk calendar for example. It can offer something digital doesn’t, the personal touch. Making your home office space or work desk your own is a simple way to help you feel settled, confident and grounded at work. It can be a conversation starter, the spark for a new work friendship. And it is never a bad thing to have a happy visual reminder when a busy working day dumps all manner of angst in your lap! Unlike seeing someone on their phone, no-one can ever feel you are being rude if you check the date via your desk calendar.
And those, ladies and gentlemen, are our thoughts on why, even in this fast-paced digital world there is still a little humble space in our lives for a paper diary, wall calendar or desk diary. In this case the advent of digital doesn’t have to mean the demise of paper. Indeed, they can coexist side by side, just like households with both dogs and cats, these two versions of life trackers can rub along together quite harmoniously.
However, if one was forced to choose, you know, like in one of those all-important, mind-blowing life scenario questions, such as ‘who is better, Batman or Superman?’, ‘Digital or Paper?’, we would always choose paper!
