Why We Love Paper Planners

There are a lot of reasons devices and phones make our lives easier. It’s pretty mind-boggling to think we can hold in our hands a device that will connect us to answers and solutions within seconds. That being said, we’ve all experienced the negative effects of our devices and we can’t help but feel that when it comes to organizing and planning our lives, there are still some pretty compelling benefits to using a paper planner.

Reduces Screen Time

One of the best parts of using a paper planner is that it reduces screen time. Did you know that the average American spends over 4 hours a day on their phone? (Side note: We’d highly recommend checking out “How to Break Up With Your Phone” by Catherine Price!) A frequent use of screens makes for tired eyes and a shorter attention span. We love using a paper planner because it allows us time and space away from our phones. It also helps us plan more efficiently since there are less distractions popping up while we’re working.

Slows Us Down

That leads us to another aspect we love about paper planning — it helps us slow down and think. Our lives are incredibly busy and being on a device only elevates that feeling of busyness with messages and notifications constantly vying for our attention. We love being able to separate ourselves from that noise while reflecting on our goals and plans. It helps us feel grounded and present and honestly, is quite therapeutic.

Everything is Visible

Paper planners also help us feel more organized, especially since everything is laid out in front of us to see. If you’re a visual person, this is especially compelling since being able to see multiple apps at once is either difficult to pull off or would require more screens. There’s nothing like being able to hold and see multiple pages at once while planning and working. We can’t say it better than Karrie Locher:

“Remember how I posted about my chaotic/unorganized life and needing to get it together ASAP? Well, this Golden Coil planner fixed that problem for me. Between my work schedule, getting the kids to the sitter, scheduling book bashes, play dates, and appointments it was important to lay my chaotic life out in front of me so I quit over-doing it. The entire thing is personalized and made by ME. So I curated my pages to fit my lifestyle and what we need. I was able to sprinkle in budgeting pages for each month, meal planning, grocery lists, social media posting schedules, and dotted pages for all of my to-dos. I feel so much more put together seeing it all out in front of me. So even if I look like I don’t have it together, at least it’s written down, right?!”

Proof of Your Existence

What we love most about using paper planners is their human aspect. We all want to leave a mark, proof that we existed, proof that we lived and worked and achieved things and loved people. Whether or not we’re in the habit of journaling, the record we keep of our daily activities still tells our story. It’s so meaningful to have traces of the people we love, like their handwriting in a forgotten thank you note or birthday card tucked away in a book. A physical paper planner is a way for us to also leave a piece of ourselves outside of nebulous gigabytes of cloud storage. It’s a way to remember we’re human.