Thank you for being here for another week of Classical Parenting 101! With our days filled with "online everything", consider what this article might be saying to your heart.
The Mighty Pen and Paper by L.G. Baus
In an age of access, convenience, and connectivity, the fountain pen remains a touchpoint with the past and connects us to our natural pace. Evernote, Slack, Google Keep, Habitica, and other platforms and apps make life convenient and open to intentional technological integration, although most fail to follow through on these practices—for more info, see Cal Newport’s Digital Minimalism. These digital, virtual media often lead to multifaceted attempts to distract you and to funnel you into a rabbit hole of platforms, tasks, functions, and applications which move at quick speeds and keep our minds moving through much of the day. I have used these platforms and apps only to find myself more busy and harried than when I use my trusty fountain pens and notebooks. They allow me to process and work with deliberate attention and focus instead of rushing me along to the next thing.
There is a simple, blissful satisfaction in choosing your first fountain pen and ink as well as keeping them in working condition throughout the years. The choices of style, pen material, filling mechanism, nib size and grind, and ink color give each person a chance to find their preferences and to take ownership of the form and shape of their writing.
I have enjoyed using fountain pens for the last seven years. Plus, I have found that my own penmanship has improved as I find worthy vessels to transmit my thoughts, ideas, daily experiences, both joyous and sorrowful, onto the page. This enjoyment of fountain pens has led to many conversations with my students, and they have begun to buy some of their own and participate in more analog behavior alongside their tech-filled lives.
Still, digital technology has its place; it has and continues to shape and change the world much like analog technologies before it. Yes, digital technology allows for convenient connections to multiple platforms synced to one another to refer to across devices and in the future. But we designate the word “user” for the person connected to digital technology—a term which fails to dignify the human person and instead gives an image of a neuter, nebulous thing connected to the virtual but not engaged with reality. Perhaps this is why I so appreciate the feel of pen to paper: it gives me reassurance that the thoughts in my head have been set to a physical surface that can be referred to in the future. The pen and paper offer us the image of the artist, writer, craftsmanship—person—contributing to and participating in the distinctly human things, thought, leisure, life. This tangible experience also offers a distraction-free appreciation of my writing and grounds me in reality. The virtual world propagates much information and many ideas along with countless distractions and entertainment; time alone with my thoughts which I have recorded by hand offers me plenty of time and space to reflect, connect, and relate things to one another without the potential of falling down the rabbit hole. However, the fast-paced code-switching that accompanies computers and phones floods my mind and does not foster opportunities to slow down and remain at ease. Thought, leadership, decision-making, and problem-solving suffer when in constant motion.
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