The Advantages of a Digital Journal in a Digital Age

All the things we live can be relived through our memories. However, memories slowly fade as time passes. We often forget the context in which all the vivid moments, conversations, feelings, and experiences happened. Writing our experiences down as they happen allows you to look back, remember precious moments from your life, and remind you where you’ve been and who you are.

Today, people seem to type down their memories instead of writing them down. Perhaps the method is different, but all the benefits of journaling are still there, as there’s no sacrifice to emotional expression. Let’s take a look at some of the advantages of a digital journal in a digital age.

“One advantage in keeping a diary is that you become aware with reassuring clarity of the changes which you constantly suffer.” – Franz Kafka

Why should you keep a digital journal?

1. Cognitive reprocessing
   There are many great benefits of journaling, such as the ability to engage in cognitive reprocessing. For example, we go through certain traumatic and stressful experiences at a young age, and those experiences often remain unprocessed. As time passes, they become fragmented and disorganized, which makes it harder for us to remember and reprocess. Journaling helps us bring a different, fresh perspective to these memories, allowing us to process them when we are older and more mature. This enables you to revisit particular traumatic memories and experience a cognitive shift.
2. Digital journaling tools are always within arm’s reach
   If you use your phone as a journaling tool, chances are that your handheld device is most often somewhere nearby. You’re probably reading this blog post on your phone as well. This allows you to create a journal entry whenever you’re ready or have a free moment.
3. Makes memories searchable
   As we mentioned before, one of the most important advantages of a digital journal is the ability to search through your personal archive. You can tag your entries for easy access to important information and dates, with a time and location stamp. This enables you to create a geographical archive and timeline for each one of your journal entries.
4. Back up your journal entries
   Because your journal is present in your device in a digital format, you can back your entries up and store them in a cloud storage system. This means that your journal is safe from tech malfunction and failure.
5. Healing and empowerment
   Writing helps because writing heals. By writing your thoughts down, you externalize them and are able to examine something that was once held only internally. Through pacing your writing, you’re able to pace your experiences, and remain calm and in control in stressful situations. Journaling is exploratory in nature and helps us develop clarity and self-trust, leading to personal empowerment. In this era of growing cynicism, people distrust governments, media, and financial institutions. So, who should we trust but ourselves?

The speed and ease that you can capture a thought are why many people appreciate a digital journaling system. Instead of having to carry around a notebook and writing instrument, you can type your thoughts on your phone wherever you go. If you want to read more about the benefits of going digital, read our blog post 9 Reasons a Digital Journal is Better Than Pen and Paper. Anything that makes the journaling process easier is an advantage because you’re more likely to write.

Happy Journaling!