Firstly to begin this blog post I would like to preface by noting I am aware of the fact that not everyone is able to afford an iPad/Tablet to be able to journal digitally and also digital journalling does not only mean you need to be on tablet device to be able to do digital journalling. Reality is that there are all kinds of way you can journal digitally, Which I will share some ideas in another post (link for future ref!) but for the purpose of this post I would like to firmly share why I personally love digital journalling so much! 

I have actually began my entire journalling exploration journey by first coming across the Bullet Journalling concept back in 2016! That has lead me to really appreciate an empty notebook and turning it in to whatever template I wish in order to journal however I wanted. For the longest time I really did enjoy the classic pen and paper method and till this day I can agree that yes there is indeed something so very magical about putting a physical pen to paper for writing! That being said, after I purchased my first iPad and the Apple pencil, I began to first make notes for work and University with the help of my iPad. This lead me to try out various bullet journal templates on my iPad as well and initially I did not like it to much for my daily journaling practice. However overtime I have come to really love and appreciate journalling on my iPad and I officially transferred all my journaling (and note taking activities) digitally and never looked back. Listed below are some of my leading reasons that converted me to a lover of digital journalling.

1: The possibilities are endless!

Digital journaling gives you the creative freedom to set up your journal whichever way you like with so many kinds of templates, types of pens, colours and stickers available at your fingertip immediately.  It also makes it so much easy to make changes with the amazing power of the “Undo” button and adjust things however you like instantly! You do not need all kinds of supplies to get creative with your journal set up such as for example most apps will allow you to adjust your pen type/size/colour immediately along with access to many types of fonts, highlighters and other types of tools.

2: Access to all kinds of media from the internet/ your own files

Speaking of access to “other types of tools” … The most amazing thing about digital journaling is that you can add as many photos, screenshots, stickers, doodles as you like by simply being able to access anything from the internet along with your own media files! No need to print, cut and stick anything to a physical journal. To be honest when I used to do journaling using physical notebooks, one of the things I found the most annoying was the fact that you weren’t able to just immediately copy paste a note, quote or something you want to highlight immediately and you don’t always want to go in to the hassle of copying down paragraphs of words manually in your journal or go find a printer.

I know some people absolutely love the creative aspect of physical journaling and I have seen on the internet people really do go ALL OUT with printing photos to then cut and paste on their journal. There is something very relaxing about that and sometimes It can be a very joyful process where you can express your creativity like in an art form and that is totally cool if that is something you really enjoy, however for me I realised I get such a thrill from digital art, creating aesthetic digital journal pages rather than the physical journalling so I guess each to their own!

3: Ability to store and access all your files from one place

I LOVE the fact that I can just keep all my journals and all the notes I have ever taken in to one place and be able to access at it any given time. What I really mean by this is the fact that with physical journals once you run out of space you obviously have to move on to a new notebook and the problem comes with that is you have store your old journal away and do not always have access to it. It is not the easiest access to be able to quickly flip through notes from previous journal sessions and you have to always set up new templates and designs where as with digital journaling you have endless amount of pages and pretty much can just continue on along with option to copy across any format you previously used immediately. 

4: Minimalism

This was honestly my #1 reason for ever considering digital journalling to begin with! I am not a minimalist but I am an active participant in constantly working towards minimising, simplifying and curating my life! I made the decision back in 2016 to pretty much go all digital with all files and this included any form of note taking also. I did not want to continue buying anymore notebooks, pens, highlighters or any other kinds of stationary items. I loved the simplicity of simple needing an iPad and a pencil which would then give me access to all the kind of note taking options and stationary I will ever need to take notes and practice art/graphic design! I am a huge advocate of not wasting paper unnecessarily and the lack of physical clutter honestly makes my wannabe minimalist mind very happy.

5: Secured and practical 

I am one paranoid person! Not that I think my journals contain worlds greatest secrets or  juiciest information out there but I like knowing the fact that no one can just randomly come across my digital journal stored on my iPad and be able to open it to get instant access to everything I have ever written there immediately. Problem with physical journals and planners is that it is not always the most practical thing having to carry it around at all times. You can lose it, accidentally spill things on it or have your privacy invaded by anyone that comes across your journal due to the easy nature of being able to simply open and read whatever is in there. Whereas with digital journalling most apps and programs you use now has the ability to back up immediately in the cloud so always easy to sync your files and access it whenever and if your device is password protected (which you should always password protect your device!) then no one can easily access your journal file. Another thing is now many apps also allow you to add in added layer of security by also password protecting your documents. Tip: it never hurts to add an additional layer of cyber security, its 2022 and we should be smart with our data!