Stephanie Vozza, writing at FastCompany:

We’re living in a digital world—one where screens dominate our time. The average American adult spends three hours and 43 minutes on mobile devices, according to 2019 research by eMarketer. This doesn’t include the time spent on a computer at work or parked in front of the television at home.
It’s easy to find an app or software platform to help you do run [sic] your life, making paper and pen feel old-school. But paper products offer advantages that tech does not.

Although I’m someone who genuinely loves all things tech-related, I’m still decidedly analog when it comes to taking notes. Despite flirtations with digital note taking, I always come back to the immutable truth that I’m a pen and paper guy.

Even beyond the valid benefits that Vozza writes about in her blog post—namely, the fact that writing things down is typically faster, keeps you more focused, and helps with recalling information—there’s something beautifully tactile about moving a pen across paper. Typing has its own unique pleasures, but the physical act of writing, even if I don’t have calligraphic penmanship, engages a certain part of my brain that typing doesn’t.

Plus, when I’m having a phone conversation at work, it’s easier (and much more comfortable) to have a pen and pad of paper next to me versus trying to type with a phone wedged between my head and shoulder.