When I heard 2026 was the "year of analog", I cannot begin to tell you how thrilled I was.

Look, it's not like I want to go backwards...

...but could we just slow down a tad?

I use tech every day for a myriad of needs. Yes, some stuff gets done faster. Yes, it can make tasks in my life feel more convenient. Though when it comes to planning my days ahead and what I want to accomplish in the next few months, I still can't rely on screens, no matter how many different apps I try. I don't know if it's because my brain is too jumpy, or if the click of a mouse just doesn't feel serious enough for my mind to hold onto. Writing my thoughts and ideas down in a paper planner or journal just feels exponentially more effective.

The other day my husband and I drove by an OG Atlanta business. It's an institution, really. A lone video and DVD rental store called Videodrome where yes, you can still go and rent movies. They have a loyal following in the Atlanta movie nerd community, and it's pretty great. As we passed by, I had a wave of nostalgia come over me for a time when picking out a movie was a whole event that everyone looked forward to on the weekends. As someone who has a hard time making decisions when there are too many choices, I realized how much I appreciated this simple process of stepping into a space dedicated to one assignment: Just rent a movie. The feeling of holding the DVD cases (or VHS if you're old), studying the cover art, reading reviews, maybe asking the clerk what they recommend, and then making a final choice. The courageous act of taking a blind chance on a movie that could just totally flat out suck.

It's the exact same love and thrill I have for bookstores. I'm grateful that so many of Rainbow Vision's retailers are small bookstores and that they offer this hands on experience when they carry our planners. These spaces are so important.

Our connection to physical media isn't just a nostalgia. It's deeply human.

Do we always need to be moving a little faster?

Or are we skipping over vital parts of ourselves that require tactile connections in our everyday life?

I realize this take may sound a bit existential for just being a planner (sorry, overthinking is kind of my thing here), but after months and months of watching big tech clamor to exploit our attention and grovel to those who have no interest in our wellbeing, I might be feeling a little extra over it.

Of course, using tech for organizing my small business is necessary. I wouldn't be using this website. My bills would never get paid! But when it comes to nurturing my creativity and doing my absolute best thinking and goal setting, these are the main reasons why I stick to making paper planners:

While I still find myself jumping on and off the blasted screens every day, simply nothing makes me feel more grounded in my daily mission than putting a pen to paper first thing in the morning. I find such joy in designing the Rainbow Vision planner for creative scatter brains like myself, and I don't see that changing anytime soon.

This might make me old fashioned, and perhaps a little more nostalgic than some, but this analog brain doesn't really mind. Sometimes the time tested ways just work.