Paper agendas are my non-green guilty pleasures

Paper agendas have my back when nobody else does

OpinionsBri Kang — Published October 17, 2021 2 minutes

Paper agendas are nostalgic for me. In high school, my friends and I would write notes in them and pass them to each other when we wanted to communicate in class. Somehow, passing a whole entire agenda around seemed less suspicious than using post-it notes. Our teachers never caught us. 

Sometimes, I look back at them and find all of the ridiculous things we would write to each other. If any of my high school teachers are reading this, I’m very sorry.

Aside from the nostalgia, paper agendas are effective in a way that online ones are not. Digital agendas really just don’t do it for me. Every time I’ve used a digital agenda and gotten a reminder on my phone, I would say “Oh, right”, toss it aside, and forget about it. 

Then what happens? I forget absolutely everything I have to do. Admittedly, I’ve missed a few work meetings in the past—even with the Google Calendar app on my phone buzzing with reminders. 

However, once I take the time to write something down, I never forget about it, despite not having pop-up notifications to remind me. This might sound ridiculous, but I have the science to back me up. Writing things by hand, in fact, does help you retain information better.

I once organized a get-together at a restaurant with my friends and completely forgot about it. The plans were scheduled on a digital calendar. All my friends showed up except for me—the one who planned it all. Had I written it down, I probably would have made it. My friends were not happy, and we have not seen each other since 2016. 

I’ve also simply had enough with screens this year. My eyes are tired from constant straining and my headaches are worsening each day. A paper agenda lessens my screen time. As a small bonus, It also allows me to doodle, which is always relaxing. 

As much as I try to make conscious efforts to help the environment, I don’t think paper agendas will be disappearing from my life anytime soon. After all, I would be an even bigger mess than I usually am, and I would have no jobs, nor friends. And If you want to get your life together—at least partly—you should get one too!