Idk if this will make sense, but writing with a pencil and paper is way more free as in, more dimensional. I can annotate at will, write sideways if I please, go bigger smaller, do a double effect, change from cursive to print to all caps all on a whim. With digital there's more steps to doing those things, and some aren't even possible without unless you're using a stylus and even then, switching between typing and writing freehand is a mess and there are still limitations.
I can carry a pencil clipped near the side seam of my front pocket. I can carry a rhodia pad in my back pocket.
I can sit on the pad without breaking it. I never have to charge it. I can rip pages out of it to leave notes for people.
The pencil and pad combined cost less than $15.
There is no digital alternative that even begins to be price competitive. There is no digital alternative that is as rugged.
Apple and their stupid stamping press ad can... feel free to insert your own expleitive ladened rant here
I agree that pencil and paper are more portable, robust and less expensive than a tablet, but if you're working on maths for example or taking large amounts of notes, I find a tablet to be more versatile and makes revising the notes much easier.
it’s all about use case. still the price to performance ratio is different for everyone. how much efficiency is enough before you feel like you’re spending too much money? valid arguments for both sides, i don’t see a clear winner in this debate happening for many years if ever.
>i don’t see a clear winner in this debate happening for many years if ever.
It's entirely personal preference, so I doubt there will ever be a winner. I'm mostly digital now, but I keep some pens/pencils and paper handy for when I need them.
well if technology can reach a point where the feel, precision, and versatility are the same i would assume digital just sorta wins with that. although, preference will still play a part then. hard to say overall. i’m with you on that, i use whichever medium fits the task
Digital will never, at least in our lifetimes, recreate the feel of pencil on paper. Precision and versatility? It's really already there with apps. It just comes down to preference.
For me? I email everything, whether that's to myself or to others. I can leave them unread until I'm finished, or I can go back and mark them as unread if I get distracted mid-task (phone calls, foot traffic into my office, etc.). I try not to use too much paper, outside of what I need to print to sign contracts, etc., but I have a few dozen files on my desk at any time, so papers tend to get shuffled and buried if I'm not really careful, so emailing and leaving unread is my best option. I do the same when sending notes to others - I can quickly type up an email and hit send, rather than tearing a sheet from a notebook and letting them lose it, or forgetting to give it to someone when they get back if they were out of the office. I do understand that everyone is different - if someone is able to keep organized with paper, then great for them! It just doesn't work for me. :)
That all said, I don't really have a preference for paper vs digital; I enjoy writing notes with my rotrings and staedtlers, but it's generally easier and quicker to just send an email, or type stuff directly into my calendar as I'm taking notes. I use a digital calendar because then I can sync it to my wife, my office partners, contractors, etc., and I can change appointments on my phone when I'm out of the office. That's all especially convenient when I'm scheduling other people, and it's live, so if I make a change to a contractors schedule, everyone else can see it immediately. That doesn't completely eliminate double booking, but it makes it easier to avoid mistakes (as long as everyone is paying attention to what they're doing). (Sorry, I got a little off topic there)
I was thinking in terms of the actual use of a writing instrument digitally. Very well put though. No worries regardless that was an interesting read. have a wonderful day !
I stopped lurking in this sub for a while now after I graduated college. This topic caught my eye. I’m in my 3rd year of my career and I found myself almost never touching my mechanical pencils. The irony is before this, I bought a lot of engineering paper to write on with my Orenz Nero 0.3mm. I absolutely loved writing with it while I was in college. But now, I use my iPad to hold my work files, PDF’s and I also use a note taking app that has tons of options for writing adjustments to make it feel like I’m writing with 0.3 lead or even 0.7mm. So I have not found a need to use my mechanical pencil and paper anymore other than just for the sake of writing/drawing.
I have a preference to digital writing because of how good it has become and because it saves me from having to buy paper/lead. It’s so quick and easy to erase or undo any writing or drawing. But I wouldn’t say I gave up on pencil and paper. My mechanical pencils still have a place in my backpack as well as my office desk.
Thanks for sharing, I am in a similar situation, I enjoyed writing on engineering paper (which I bought a ton of) with a 0.5mm 2B lead but since I switched to a tablet, I find it more productive, you can move things around and re- organise without compromising space or erasing stuff and have more background styles.
I still use my mechanical pencils occasionally, like the Staedtler 925 35 which feels great to write with and easily my favourite writing instrument.
I agree. I'd LIKE to use pencils more, but it's just so easy to go digital, and then it doesn't waste paper. I'm WAY more organized since moving to digital.
I carry the rotring 800+ 0.7mm because it has a stylus, and because it doesn’t break lead like the 0.5mm. And i carry a fountain pen, the Lamy 2000 and i use them frequently. Pen and paper will always be useful
No.
What's more, if we look at it in terms of efficiency and impact on the environment, ease so that the impact on it of its manufacture and use is less... they might even win by beating over massive (and very obsolete) electronics and perishable for what it really impacts and costs to manufacture and sustain at that rate.
No. And yes despite the new technologies there are many use cases in which actual pencil and paper is preferred over digital counterparts, mechanical pencils being one of the best options. For example, many people who do mathematics still write and do their hand calculations regularly on paper. People who do art (excluding the digital artists) and sketching also need to draft on actual paper.
I’ve had software crash and lose work, and that’s just no freaking fun at all. I’ve actually written software in a few programming languages, so I’m not tech-averse, by the way. Also, just much prefer getting todos and edits and notes and things done with physical/analog writing kit, generally speaking. I also agree with what others have already said, and more.
A good question that I have a good answer for. With these advancements in AI arts and AI writing people are going to return to the physical world to create rather than push all in on the digital medium. There will always be people who want and like tangible art pieces like paintings and books, so whatever your favourite utensil for creating art is like a mechanical pencil perhaps will never become truly obsolete.
Quite unlikely. In many day-to-day scenarios, it’s more often less “friction” to jot down something using a pencil than keying it into a digital device.
I prefer to type for written notes for convenience, but I always have my mechanical pencils ready for drawing sometimes. I find it useful if I'm not in the mood for pens. Also, it saves me time and space as I don't have to carry a sharpener and deal with sharpener shavings. I also like having different lead sizes like a 0.5 for finelines or a 2mm if I want bold lines or to fill a part of my drawing.
Idk if this will make sense, but writing with a pencil and paper is way more free as in, more dimensional. I can annotate at will, write sideways if I please, go bigger smaller, do a double effect, change from cursive to print to all caps all on a whim. With digital there's more steps to doing those things, and some aren't even possible without unless you're using a stylus and even then, switching between typing and writing freehand is a mess and there are still limitations.
I can carry a pencil clipped near the side seam of my front pocket. I can carry a rhodia pad in my back pocket. I can sit on the pad without breaking it. I never have to charge it. I can rip pages out of it to leave notes for people. The pencil and pad combined cost less than $15. There is no digital alternative that even begins to be price competitive. There is no digital alternative that is as rugged. Apple and their stupid stamping press ad can... feel free to insert your own expleitive ladened rant here
I agree that pencil and paper are more portable, robust and less expensive than a tablet, but if you're working on maths for example or taking large amounts of notes, I find a tablet to be more versatile and makes revising the notes much easier.
it’s all about use case. still the price to performance ratio is different for everyone. how much efficiency is enough before you feel like you’re spending too much money? valid arguments for both sides, i don’t see a clear winner in this debate happening for many years if ever.
>i don’t see a clear winner in this debate happening for many years if ever. It's entirely personal preference, so I doubt there will ever be a winner. I'm mostly digital now, but I keep some pens/pencils and paper handy for when I need them.
well if technology can reach a point where the feel, precision, and versatility are the same i would assume digital just sorta wins with that. although, preference will still play a part then. hard to say overall. i’m with you on that, i use whichever medium fits the task
Digital will never, at least in our lifetimes, recreate the feel of pencil on paper. Precision and versatility? It's really already there with apps. It just comes down to preference. For me? I email everything, whether that's to myself or to others. I can leave them unread until I'm finished, or I can go back and mark them as unread if I get distracted mid-task (phone calls, foot traffic into my office, etc.). I try not to use too much paper, outside of what I need to print to sign contracts, etc., but I have a few dozen files on my desk at any time, so papers tend to get shuffled and buried if I'm not really careful, so emailing and leaving unread is my best option. I do the same when sending notes to others - I can quickly type up an email and hit send, rather than tearing a sheet from a notebook and letting them lose it, or forgetting to give it to someone when they get back if they were out of the office. I do understand that everyone is different - if someone is able to keep organized with paper, then great for them! It just doesn't work for me. :) That all said, I don't really have a preference for paper vs digital; I enjoy writing notes with my rotrings and staedtlers, but it's generally easier and quicker to just send an email, or type stuff directly into my calendar as I'm taking notes. I use a digital calendar because then I can sync it to my wife, my office partners, contractors, etc., and I can change appointments on my phone when I'm out of the office. That's all especially convenient when I'm scheduling other people, and it's live, so if I make a change to a contractors schedule, everyone else can see it immediately. That doesn't completely eliminate double booking, but it makes it easier to avoid mistakes (as long as everyone is paying attention to what they're doing). (Sorry, I got a little off topic there)
I was thinking in terms of the actual use of a writing instrument digitally. Very well put though. No worries regardless that was an interesting read. have a wonderful day !
Yeah, I got a little off topic lol You as well!
Less infrastructure with a pencil.
I stopped lurking in this sub for a while now after I graduated college. This topic caught my eye. I’m in my 3rd year of my career and I found myself almost never touching my mechanical pencils. The irony is before this, I bought a lot of engineering paper to write on with my Orenz Nero 0.3mm. I absolutely loved writing with it while I was in college. But now, I use my iPad to hold my work files, PDF’s and I also use a note taking app that has tons of options for writing adjustments to make it feel like I’m writing with 0.3 lead or even 0.7mm. So I have not found a need to use my mechanical pencil and paper anymore other than just for the sake of writing/drawing. I have a preference to digital writing because of how good it has become and because it saves me from having to buy paper/lead. It’s so quick and easy to erase or undo any writing or drawing. But I wouldn’t say I gave up on pencil and paper. My mechanical pencils still have a place in my backpack as well as my office desk.
Thanks for sharing, I am in a similar situation, I enjoyed writing on engineering paper (which I bought a ton of) with a 0.5mm 2B lead but since I switched to a tablet, I find it more productive, you can move things around and re- organise without compromising space or erasing stuff and have more background styles. I still use my mechanical pencils occasionally, like the Staedtler 925 35 which feels great to write with and easily my favourite writing instrument.
I agree. I'd LIKE to use pencils more, but it's just so easy to go digital, and then it doesn't waste paper. I'm WAY more organized since moving to digital.
How else would you do the crossword ?
They definitely are not becoming obsolete, just more specialized. There are plenty marketed to artists that are excellent.
I carry the rotring 800+ 0.7mm because it has a stylus, and because it doesn’t break lead like the 0.5mm. And i carry a fountain pen, the Lamy 2000 and i use them frequently. Pen and paper will always be useful
No batteries required. Let's pray nothing major happens so that pencil and paper become way more valuable than any tablet and stylus.
One look at the fountain pen community will show this not to be true.
No. What's more, if we look at it in terms of efficiency and impact on the environment, ease so that the impact on it of its manufacture and use is less... they might even win by beating over massive (and very obsolete) electronics and perishable for what it really impacts and costs to manufacture and sustain at that rate.
No. And yes despite the new technologies there are many use cases in which actual pencil and paper is preferred over digital counterparts, mechanical pencils being one of the best options. For example, many people who do mathematics still write and do their hand calculations regularly on paper. People who do art (excluding the digital artists) and sketching also need to draft on actual paper.
No bluelight. No need for battery or charging. Cheaper?
Not everyone has money for a 1000 dollar iPad and 200 dollar apple pen
Are acoustic guitars obsolete?
Could you cite your sources regarding popularity?
I’ve had software crash and lose work, and that’s just no freaking fun at all. I’ve actually written software in a few programming languages, so I’m not tech-averse, by the way. Also, just much prefer getting todos and edits and notes and things done with physical/analog writing kit, generally speaking. I also agree with what others have already said, and more.
A good question that I have a good answer for. With these advancements in AI arts and AI writing people are going to return to the physical world to create rather than push all in on the digital medium. There will always be people who want and like tangible art pieces like paintings and books, so whatever your favourite utensil for creating art is like a mechanical pencil perhaps will never become truly obsolete.
Quite unlikely. In many day-to-day scenarios, it’s more often less “friction” to jot down something using a pencil than keying it into a digital device.
yes you better buy up tons of them before they disappear completely!
I prefer to type for written notes for convenience, but I always have my mechanical pencils ready for drawing sometimes. I find it useful if I'm not in the mood for pens. Also, it saves me time and space as I don't have to carry a sharpener and deal with sharpener shavings. I also like having different lead sizes like a 0.5 for finelines or a 2mm if I want bold lines or to fill a part of my drawing.
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