As paper and stationery lovers, the best part of changing my habits away from phone and social media overuse to a more analog or disconnected is the “analog” stuff!

(I say “analog” in quotes because many of the single-purpose devices and items listed below are actual digital devices like cameras, ereaders and video game systems so I see the irony.)

As I work to disconnect more often and more frequently, I have discovered that I am adding MORE items to my life and my everyday use. While this may seem counterintuitive, having single-purpose devices and tools actually help to focus and demarcate my time.

From my research around Digital Declutter, the biggest problem with always-on, alway-connected lives is that our attention is always split between the various inputs. How many of us has watched a tv show or movie WHILE scrolling on their phone? (C’mon, confess. I’m not the only one.) Those split focus experiences make for less fulfillment. I neither distinctly remember what the episode on tv was about but I also only vaguely recollect what I was looking at on my phone.

The Paper Goods:

I mentioned earlier that I have started adding more notebooks into my life specifically as an alternative to using my phone for notes or feeling compelled to look up stuff the minute they pop into my head. By using a notebook for capturing quotes, ideas, things to research, I reduce the number of times a day I pick up my phone to do said task only to see I have new emails, text messages or comments and then get derailed from what I was doing when the idea popped into my head then I get distracted from doing the search or note taking by random messages and then forget that too.

So, to keep myself from feeling so scattered, I am using two notebooks to capture random thoughts, ideas, quotes, etc.  Both of these notebooks were discussed in more detail in my 2026 Techo Kaigi but I’ll include them again here for reference:

Commonplace Book:

This is an A5 lined notebook (the book I’m using is no longer available but its just a nice lined notebook. If you want an alternative, consider a Leuchtturm1917 or whatever is floating in your collection)  for quotes and thoughts around the books that I’m reading and anything that connects to those ideas. Its not a precious, fancy, decorative notebook. It’s just a lined notebook where I can quickly transcribe quotes. I have not mastered the standard Commonplace Book formatting but I may try to add that in as I go along.

If you are not familiar with Commonplace Books, many people will set a header on each page with a specific keyword and then include quotes, poems or other writing around that specific topic. For example, you find a quote about friendship so you start a new page in your Commonplace Book and add a header “Friendship” and then add your quote. Maybe later, you find a quote about gardens, so you go to the next page, add the header “Gardens” and add the quote there. Maybe you are researching a time period, a person or some other topic, your page headers will reflect those topics: “Edwardian dates of importance,” “Ghosts,” and “Alexander Hamilton”.

“I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.”

― Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest

I realize the quote above is about keeping a journal or diary but I think having a CommonplaceBook filled with quotes that inspire you is just as much a delight to read while stuck on a train.

Utilizing the bullet journal method, this technique works best if you include an index at the front or back of the book that allows you to track where a specific type of quote is in your book.

Pocket Notebook:

The other book that’s been added into my Digital Declutter project is my small Mark’s Edit B7 pocket notebook. This is the brain dump. I put lists, things I want to research or look-up later, recommendations for books or films to see, etc. If a quote pops up while I’m out and about, I put it in the B7 and then transfer it into the Commonplace Book when I am back home.

I never thought I’d be someone who carried a pocket notebook. Sure, I’ve collected Field Notes for years but I never really used them on a day-to-day basis. Stepping away from using my phone for everything, all the time has opened up a place in my life for a little notebook.

The bonus of more notebooks is that I get to use more of my pens, inks and other stationery accessories. Win-win!

Other analog (or non-streaming, non-phone) tools:

Watching

We have purchased a few DVDs recently and are enjoying being able to have a curated collection of things to watch on tv. In some cases, I only ever watch Star Trek: Lower Decks so why do I keep paying for a streaming subscription when I can buy the discs and watch the episodes as many times as I want for one low-low price!

Since we reduced our streaming services, we don’t watch a lot of tv shows at the moment which I don’t really miss. We have considered renting DVDs of movies and tv shows from our local library if we need a fix.

Listening

In my Music post, I mentioned the addition of the iPod and ripping my vast CD collection as well as purchasing new discs and digital downloads. I spend less time trying to decide what to listen to and more time ACTUALLY listening to music. Its also far healthier for my psyche than doomscrolling or getting stuck in the news cycle loop.

Reading

I currently own two ereaders. I use one as my main reader (KOBO Libra 2) and the other is a Kindle Paperwhite that I use for library ebooks. The way Overdrive works on the Kobo changed this past year so that instead of being able to check out books from multiple branches easily, I now have to either download the books to my computer, run Adobe Digital Editions and then plug my Kobo into the computer to transfer the books or use a Kindle and download the books via Kindle’s partnership with Libby. I found a deeply discounted Kindle over the summer and decided that for the amount I read, it was worth it to have the two devices. I wanted to get out of the Amazon ecosystem but they pulled me back in! As it is, I only use the Kindle for Libby lending from three US local libraries and my Kobo has my purchased books. I also check out physical books from my local libraries pretty regularly. And as a self-respecting book boarder, I also have a lovely stack of TBR books beside my bed.

I also listen to audiobooks which I get from Libby. At present, I have to access these with my iPhone. I use wireless headphones and leave the phone in another room so I can’t scroll while listening. If you have a better solution, please let me know.

Cameras

I have always loved photography and I was one of the people who was last to embrace the iPhone as my primary photo taking tool but once I did, my “good cameras” were relegated to product shots and blog posts only. I no longer take my good camera out into the world and I want to change that. I want to get back into photography as a legitimate hobby and not just a way to collect image from Instagram (which I just don’t do at all anymore). I have an array of digital cameras from high-end dSLRs, mirco 4/3rds and pocket cameras. These are coming out, getting new batteries and SD cards and getting some use this year. My favorites to bring back into circulation are my very pocketable Canon S90 and my rangefinder style Olympus Ep-3 but it is pretty slow to focus. I’m going to experiment with these and see if they are good alternatives to using the camera on my phone.

Watch

I do have an analog watch or two but I continue to use tracking for my exercise and fitness goals so I will continue to use my very old Garmin Rey Legacy Series Watch but I think I need to get a new battery for it this year. I have turned off ALL notifications on my watch which has reduced the constant interruptions and distractions that it was causing. Now all it does is tell time and allow me to track my exercise activities. It’s kind of liberating to not be constantly buzzed every time I get an email, text message or news update. I used to think having all those notifications right on my wrist was helpful but it was actually making me anxious.

Its not imperative for me to use the watch to track my exercise so I may switch to a fully analog watch but I will need to find my analog watch and replace the batteries.

Other Entertainment

I still have an original Nintendo Switch for playing games occasionally and a handful of Solo RPG games that I can play on paper. I prefer the Switch to Apple Games or phone games because, while I am playing, I am not being interrupted by email notifications or other random beeps and bloops. For an hour, I can fully immerse myself in a game with no other distractions (if you don’t count the cats).

I also love to knit, do crossword puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, playing board games and probably a dozen other non-phone related activities. The less time I spend scrolling on Reddit or Instagram I can do ANY of these options.

In Conclusion

I suppose this seems like a lot of stuff when one phone, smaller than a paperback book could theoretically do most of the tasks listed above. Sure, switching to various focus modes on your phone or laptop can help somewhat but, for me, once the device is in my hand, I inevitably check all the things and forget what I was doing or thinking about before I picked it up. All the buzzing, little red dots and constant notifications was leaving me feeling unfocused and frazzled.

I know that some of the stuff listed above is off-topic from the overall theme of The Desk but I think as analog pen and paper users, most readers have at least thought about how devices have encroached on our time — both personal time and work time.

Am I forgetting anything that my phone has tried to replace? What techniques do you use to sharpen your personal focus and pursue your interests uninterrupted? What non-digital hobbies, activities or projects do you have going right now?