Notebooks are in fashion. In this autumn of 2025, entering TikTok or Instagram means risking falling into a spiral of beautiful diaries. This time they are not empty objects with a minimalist aesthetic: on the contrary, the more they are used, the more ambitious they become. The ideal diary is one whose skin has acquired a patina and its overflowing meaning is enclosed by a system of elastic bands adorned with metal charms. The offer ranges from Louise Carmen (French luxury brand whose customizable products cost around 300 euros), Midori (the Japanese house that invented this organization method) and Temu, although the more crafty have learned to make them themselves. In reality, any notebook is valid and tens of millions of publications prove it. What is a notebook for? For everything, of course. Louise Carmen identified 89 ideas grouped into the following categories: well-being, inspiration, travel, family, memories, health, learning, organization, introspection, creativity, planning, hobbies and work. I’ve seen conventional planners and journals, but also Bible reading notes, journals made from found pieces of junk, magical manifestation exercises to make wishes come true, gratitude journals, idea books, or Julia Cameron-style morning creative writing pages. Journalist Mar Manrique explained in her newsletter that she dedicated an hour every Sunday to creating a multimedia log to consolidate new knowledge: “I started writing what I saw on the Internet as a way to plug the drain of my attention.”
This brings us to the reason why we should use a notebook: overstimulated by the Internet, we try to protect our mind behind paper and pencil. Each of the multiple functions that a mobile phone brings together tries to split into the analogue object it has replaced: this is why paper newspapers and magazines, radios, alarm clocks, digital cameras, watches, the puzzles with which we defend our time offline are micro trends. Twenty years ago it was revolutionary to share a public diary on the internet, a blog. Ten ago, the method bullet journal It was used for productivity and self-improvement. Now diaries serve as an emotional, cognitive and creative refuge and appeal especially to women. The notebook wants to become independent from the internet to preserve what little we have left of concentration, playful spirit and intimacy, but then, where does the obsession with showing it to the world come from? I find three reasons. One is aesthetic and, therefore, economic: we have romanticized writing and its paraphernalia for centuries, and watching it is hypnotic, so the algorithm loves it. Secondly, networking enriches any learning and journalism also benefits from mutual conversation. The last reason is the darkest: knowing how to reflect in writing is the ultimate sign of modern luxury, of cognitive luxury. Hyperconnectedness is starting to be seen as a problem for the poor, the feeble-minded, and the dependent. If we use diaries it is because we still have the intelligence, attention, time, energy and willpower to not stay glued to our cell phones all day, exhausted watching life go by. We teach our writings for the same reason as books, to boast of a Pyrrhic mental class privilege. Look how I know how to slow down life to enjoy it, look into my beautiful analogue inner world, we talk to each other on the internet.
