Do you still have a journal tucked under your mattress? Or have you gone virtual, with a blog? More and more people are putting their personal thoughts online; blogs are the 21st Century approach to diaries and journaling. But is a blog really better than an old-fashioned journal? Your handwritten journal is actually a lot better than your blog. Here are just a few good reasons you should get out your pen and give your keyboard a rest.

Handwriting Means More than Typing

Sure, when you type you can get your thoughts out a lot more quickly than when you write by hand. But what’s the rush? When you handwrite your journal entries, you’re slowing down your thinking (just a tad), which allows you to think more critically about your feelings. Your handwriting is also unique and personal to you. With typing, everyone’s words look the same. Handwriting in a diary adds a lot of character to your words in a way that a blog can’t.

You Have More Control

You may be able to tweak the look of your blog to be whatever you want, and you may be able to adjust your privacy settings to a level you’re comfortable with. But it’s a lot easier to control your handwritten journal that’s physically in your possession. You can hide it away until you decide to show someone (if you ever do). If your blog isn’t entirely private, you don’t have much control over your words after they’re published. Someone could easily repost them somewhere else, or it might be seen by people it wasn’t intended for. If you really want your journal to be private, a handwritten one is your best bet.

It’s Easy and Simple

There’s not much you need to know to pick up a pen and put it to paper. All you really have to do is pick out a good-looking journal that you like. Blogs, on the other hand, can take a certain level of expertise to personalize. You don’t necessarily have to know HTML to run your blog, but you do need to be at least a little tech-savvy. Your journal is easy; your blog requires a little more effort. You don’t have to worry about clicking the wrong button or formatting your text the right way with your journal.

It Can Hold Physical Mementos

Lots of people use their journals to place concert tickets, pressed flowers, or other little trinkets that remind them of the events in their lives. Your blog can’t hold those physical mementos. The best you can do is take pictures of things and upload them, but photographs are never as good as the real thing. Your journal gives you a place to keep more than just your thoughts.

Handwriting is More Emotionally Beneficial

Journals are cathartic tools that can help us deal with our complicated emotions. When you handwrite your thoughts, they often become more “real” than when you’re just typing them. Handwritten journal entries will help you more emotionally than typed blog posts.

Alayne Valentine is a freelance writer and literature student who has tons of experience with both blogs and journals. She loves to write and often covers topics relating to writing or grammar checkers.

Photo Credit: paperbackwriter