Your thoughts are safe with digital journaling. I promise.

Ellipses… Issue #053

Ellipses… a small, special character. Used by writers to slow down, create a pause, and indicate thinking.

⚫️ 1 thought: The fear(???) surrounding digital journaling 🪶

Fear? Digital journaling? Really guys?

I love journaling in all its forms. I don’t discriminate between analog journaling and digital journaling. I can wax poetically about benefits of both formats. And, I switch from one to another for privacy reasons or to soothe my ADHD brain with a hit of novelty.

I bring this up because I created a comprehensive post and infographic comparing digital vs analog journaling, and the graphic got major backlash on YouTube because of my claim that digital journaling is more private than journaling in a notebook.

(Okay, you caught me, I posted on YouTube… once… because I was feeling the strain of my IG strike last month.)

The comments against digital journaling?

• “Cloud companies have access to all of your digital information at any time.”

• “You have no idea who watches you and what they’ll do with that info.”

• “Nothing is truly secure in the digital world.”

• “Anything can be hacked.”

I felt attacked. So instead of commenting back with an anxiety-ridden heart, I tried to gut check these fear-based responses.

• So what if I get hacked? Do I really care if someone outside of my house had access to my… daydreams?

• Does the world at large really care about my innermost secrets?

• Am I worried that someone will hack my Notability and print out my journal and plaster it all throughout the Philadelphia streets?

The answer to all? Big fat no. No one cares about my drama except me and my space cadet brain.

I found logically sound opinions about digital journaling on Reddit. Things along the lines of:

• “Unless you provide your financial info in your journal, NO ONE cares.”

• “Unless you’re a celebrity or public figure, NO ONE cares.”

• “Unless you’re planning a disaster, NO ONE cares.”

Ah, balance restored.

Rest easy, digital journaling friends. Encryption and biometrics is good enough. Unless you are a serial killer or celebrity. (And if you’re the latter, hi, what are you doing here?)

⚫️ 1 link: Shop small, or not at all (Friday 2/28) 🔗

Alongside of our actual votes, we also vote with our dollars. Where we spend our money is who we support, what we support, and what we believe in. Where we spend our money shapes the future.

Free overnight shipping is super convenient—I know it, moms—but there are so many things wrong with some choice big box internet stores right now that I’m not even going to get into it. Do your own research.

So, if you’re like me and have always been looking for a reason to shop small but haven’t been able to pull the trigger completely, join in on the easy economic boycott on Friday, 2/28 with The People’s Union USA. There’s no signup necessary.

The TL;DR on the boycott: don’t shop on 2/28 unless absolutely essential (think food or medical supplies). And if you must buy, try to shop small.

Please join and share.

⚫️ 1 journal prompt: What did you learn last week? 📔

As much as I love journaling, I almost never go back and read my entries. I’m trying to change that. Mostly because I’ll have moments of clarity or insight and then promptly forget.

So—if you’re a journaler, go ahead and read your entries from last week. What’s something you learned, and how did you get there? Did anyone else help you discover that truth? Or… did you learn something by reading over the past week in general?

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Either your attention span is impeccable or my post was so compelling. Either way: you rock. Thanks! Hit reply or comment to continue the discussion. I always love to hear from you.

Be safe and well,

🖤 Jenny

PS Want to respond, but like… with paper and pen? You can send me snail mail to that address in the footer.