For centuries, human beings have documented virtually all the scenarios imaginable, such as business, mathematics, chemistry, literature, religion etc. using a pen and a paper and used the knowledge jotted down on a paper to literally enhance the mind, circulate knowledge, document essential day to day scenarios and establish entire civilizations. Earlier, human beings in the absence of a leaf or a rock, would write on sand using their fingers or a stick to understand and contemplate the natural phenomenon persisting around them. But eventually, people started carving letters on stones or pieces of clay, which would be known as inscriptions.

Portable inscriptions would be utilised between kingdoms to transmit knowledge or messages, which in modern times would be referred to as journalism. Eventually, a more malleable form of material was discovered that would not only change the writing industry but also the entire process of knowledge transmission and establish literary educational institutions known as manuscripts. When compared to inscriptions, manuscripts were made out of softer material, were easier to document on and edit, could be carried from one location to another, and transferred from one person to another in a hassle-free manner. Oftentimes, we take things for granted that have come naturally to us or have been bestowed upon us.

Not only were these methods of documentation crucial in the transmission of knowledge, but they also reflect the intellectual tendency that human beings have carried since centuries and is now getting seemingly lost in time, i.e., the ability to document something on a piece of paper using a writing a tool, any phenomena, and to think, reflect and contemplate on its peculiarities to conclude the natural, mental, and social world.

In today’s day and age, whenever when one encounters a problem, to be more specific ethical, moral, personal and social dilemmas, an individuals first line of response is to turn to self-help books, podcasts, random strangers on social media or to the most recent development in the technological industry, AI tools. This not only hampers an individual’s patience as they might seem to seek answers too quickly to problems whose solutions might not be too apparent and require layers of thinking and nuances but also the thinking capacity as they turn to solutions such as self help books or psychological guides which might not provide solutions pertinent to the problem and eventually might not bear results that could result in long term benefits in the future but also an individual’s cognitive capacity goes for a toss, as they might not develop the capacity or ability to sit down and think on a problem that is permeated in their lives.

The ability to just take a pen and paper, write stuff down or just take notes is an ability which is seemingly under-appreciated and under utilised nowadays, seemingly because of the prevalence of technology induced note taking phenomena. But these artificially induced phenomena could never get down to replicating the natural intelligence of the human mind. For example, an activity which has been basically taught to everyone in schools during their English lessons, and more specifically during Class 6th, is diary entry or journaling. Now, this might seem like a silly activity to some, but when someone’s day is coming to an end, and after a long exhausting day, hearing queries and abuses, or witnessing an important phenomena, if an individual maintains the habit of keeping a journal or dairy to jot down his or her problems that they face in a day then, when writing that incident or problem they could observe the problem from a wider spectrum and instantly their mind would contemplate or give solutions to that problem.

This technique also helps someone who is trying to enhance their vocabulary. For instance, while reading any material such as a newspaper or novel if an individual comes across a word that they have never witnessed before, they can write it down, refer it’s meaning by looking up a dictionary, think on their own and formulate their sentences around the word or term to comprehend it better.

This could also be beneficial for writers whose occupation is to write novels, books or plays as when brainstorming their ideas on an electronic device, they could be distracted by managing several other applications, thus increasing cognitive stress which might eventually lead to a brain fog and might not help the writer to imagine in a lucid or clear manner. This also helps with better productivity as fewer distractions, the more time there is for the writer to think about the ideas that they wish to share with the world. Some more benefits attached to this format are that, unlike the electronic medium, paper and pen don’t shut down or require updates, and they provide a writer with a sense of personal space while writing. This could also allow a writer with a sense of slow reflection or contemplation, which might help certain content get etched in the memory better, as well as improve overall critical thinking capacity. This is also great for essayists, as when they write on a particular topic, while writing, their minds could connect that topic, problem, concept, phenomena, subject, statement, or claim with multiple fields, domains, or subjects to attain or reach a plausible solution or conclusion.

This could also help creative people such as poets or doodling artists anywhere irrespective of where they are whether they are in a meeting or the classroom, as they can just pull out a notebook which basically operates as a blank canvas for that individual and they can use words or pictures to bring forth and entire world on the pages which up until that point had just circulated in the corners of their mind.

Writing your objectives or goals on paper could also help an individual keep track of their duties and also plan for the long term. As they write, they could reflect on their current status and think about how to achieve their future objectives. 

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