As part of my efforts to lessen my dependence on my iPhone, in the hope that I might possibly move away from it entirely at some point, I have decided to invest in a new notebook, in order to keep track of the little things that are usually kept in the Notes app of my phone; how much money I’ve spent, my to-do list, random thoughts that pop into my head, and so on. I’ve read lots of essays and watched quite a few YouTube videos recently on the topic of dumb phones and ‘going analogue’, and it seems apparent that a notebook is a vital part of this process, so who am I to deny the wisdom of online influencers? Plus, it is quite a happy coincidence that I’ve always had something of a penchant for beautiful stationery.
I would usually head straight to Amazon for something like this, the allure of next-day delivery via Prime often proving irresistible, but in keeping with my desire to de-digitalise my life as much as possible, I decided I would head out into the big wide world and buy one from an actual shop. As we lackadaisically hurtle towards late-stage capitalism, our consumerist culture seems to have descended into a relentless focus on efficiency for the sake of efficiency, but where does that actually leave us? Who does that benefit? Amazon Prime saves people lots of time and effort, fair enough, I will not deny that, but what do they actually do with that spare time? I’d place a fair wager that they use it instead to watch TikTok or scroll Facebook, and thus it becomes a circular loop of doom – tech giants ‘save’ us more and more time, just so we can spend more and more time scrolling on their platforms.
I digress slightly, but I do have an overall point, which I promise I will come to. I needed to go to Waitrose today anyway (I slip this in casually just so you are aware that I shop at Waitrose), so I thought I’d have a wander around Uttoxeter afterwards to find a notebook. I tried TG Jones, Asda, Tesco, B&M Bargains and an independent newsagents, but none of them had what I was looking for. Refusing to admit defeat, I drove straight from Uttoxeter to Burton and headed to Waterstones, and although it was a bit pricey, I found a notebook that ticked every box, and walked away a very happy man.
I am fully aware that it would have been far easier, and almost definitely cheaper, to have just ordered one online, but I now, finally, come to my point – I am far happier having gone out and found one myself and, as silly as it sounds, I feel like I’ve accomplished something today. I spent a good fifteen minutes perusing different notebooks in Waterstones, so I am extremely confident I have landed on the right one.
It’s a Black Lined Notebook with a Monochrome Soft Cover by Legami Milano, with 192 numbered pages on 90 G/M² Ivory Paper, a bookmark, a pagemarker flap and a back pocket. It has a world map, an index page, a page for your yearly goals, 12 monthly planner pages, and a section to list your contacts and your user IDs & passwords. On the final page, it also has a quote – “We are young, and we are curious. We are dreamers, travellers, and we believe in what we are doing”. Isn’t that nice?
Do you think I would have paid that much attention, or been this excited, if I had just ordered some random notebook from Amazon? Of course I wouldn’t, and therein lies my point – whether we do it consciously, or let the evil corporations of the day penetrate our subconscious and embed it within, we spend so much of our lives optimising them for efficiency, and for what? So we can spend less time revelling in moments of pure joy like buying a new notebook? I, for one, say no thank you.
