Is digital media cheaper art?

I’ll be the first to admit: when someone asks about my plans, I pull out my overpriced planner and pen with a completely unwarranted sense of superiority. While everyone else scrolls through Notion or Google Calendar, I’m flipping to a fresh page, feeling obnoxiously smug about it. But maybe that’s exactly why I can’t stop thinking about this. Have we traded the romance of the written word for the cheap convenience of digital media?

Our phones have become a one-stop shop — calendars, contacts, notes, and reminders all tucked into one sleek rectangle. The days of address books and dog-eared notebooks are almost forgotten. Is it more efficient? Absolutely. But also oddly sterile, and a little bit soulless. Convenience has its charms, but it can’t compete with something that feels human. 

There’s a sense of ownership that comes with the physical. The drag of a pen on paper, the smudge of ink, the indentation that ghosts onto the next page – they’re proof of a thought that existed, a moment that mattered. A backlit screen just can’t match that intimacy. 

Just handwriting alone, in its messy individuality can tell a story. The tilt of your letters, the uneven pressure, the variability with mood and time – it’s a small and messy signature of self. Choosing between Times New Roman and Calibri isn’t as romantic. 

I’m not about to call digital media a villain or shame anyone for using it; I rely on it just as much. But I do think we’re trading authenticity for accessibility and meaning for efficiency. Maybe that’s why I love my planner so much. It isn’t just an organisational tool; it’s a tiny time capsule. Every scribble and crossed-out meeting holds a trace of who I was in that moment, something that can’t be backspaced away. 

So, is digital media a cheaper art? Maybe. Not because it costs less, but because it feels less. And yes, I’m typing this on my laptop instead of writing it in my notebook – hypocrisy noted. But maybe that’s the point, in a world where we rely heavily on the digital, we all need one thing to smudge, scribble and express ourselves in – something that can’t be deleted.