There are so many apps available today that help you organize your daily schedule. Yet, a desk calendar is still what you may badly need to keep track of all your deadlines. Defying commonly held perceptions that had predicted the obsolescence of these calendars, they are still very much alive and kicking. Why have some people continued using paper while some seem to be rediscovering it? It’s because planning on paper is still very effective. Planning your schedule with the traditional pen and paper still has certain advantages over digital calendars. Read on to know what the advantages are.
Avoiding Digital Fatigue
Don’t you often feel that you are lost in a maze of mobile devices that flood you with alerts and notifications? With a desk calendar, you can stay away from screens staring at you all day. Our devices are meant to be addictive. Dopamine, the feel-good chemical is secreted upon the hearing of notification and we get anxious to respond to it. CNN Health reports that on average, Americans stare at screens for nearly 11 hours each day.
Without knowing it, you may be suffering by spending too much time using technology. The Washington Post carried a report that teens spending too much time online are more prone to end up feeling unhappy. A report published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. Publishers says that adults who had volunteered to give up Facebook for a while felt much happier. Their feelings of loneliness and depression had reduced greatly when compared to those who were still using Facebook.
There are many tech employees who have expressed alarm at the harm caused by the technology they have been a part of creating. One such group formed the Center for Humane Technology which feels that mental health and social relationships are greatly damaged by modern technology. Therefore, taking a step back from the mobile or laptop gives you relief from overexposure to technology. Planning on paper desk calendars helps you do just that thereby avoiding digital fatigue.
Stimulating Brain-Hand Connection
Apparently, handwriting and typing seem similar. However, the human brain has to act differently when performing the two activities. Handwriting needs us to make strokes in a proper sequence for writing each letter. The University of Washington has mentioned that large regions of the brain are activated and engaged in thinking which stimulates language memory and working memory during writing with the hand.
The National Library of Medicines conducted a study that had two groups of pre-literate children with one group taught about writing by hand and the other group typing letters using keyboards. Later, the children were made to look at the letters while their brains were being scanned in an MRI machine. It was noticed that the brain networks that support reading were activated in the children who had written by hand which didn’t occur in the children who had used keyboards for typing.
One gets to see the benefits of handwriting much later in life as well. Students who take notes by hand have been found to follow lectures much better than those using laptops. These are clear indications of better brain stimulation when hands are used for writing. This same stimulation occurs when you make a note of your deadlines and appointments on a desk calendar with your hands. It’s a wonderful exercise for the brain.
Desk Calendar Improve Concentration
Desk calendars are also great places to doodle. You might feel that idle scribbling is such a waste of time. However, it’s very effective in improving concentration when performing boring work. A study conducted by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. has found that people who were made to listen to a dull call remembered 29% more of what was said on the call since they were made to doodle randomly. Psychology Today mentioned in a report that doodling helps calm the mind as well. That’s a very strong reason why all of us should doodle more on our desk calendars.
Final Word
Sure, digital devices are here to stay. That said, for a healthier mind and body, keep using a paper desk calendar more. It gives you an escape from the screens staring at you all day. Scribbling on a paper desk calendar helps stimulate your brain helping improve your concentration. It also helps calm you down. Besides, there’s always a personal touch in your own handwriting. The plus points of using desk calendars are far too strong to ignore. Don’t ditch them.
