Once upon a time, in a bygone era almost past recall, there were no mobile phones, laptops or desk computers. In their stead people of all ages relied on various forms of bound paper to organise their lives.

Back then, young children would agonise over just the right colour for the cover of their school notebook. Older students might tote around three-ring binders and argue over the merits of wide-ruled v college-ruled pages. Teenage girls kept diaries, as did adolescent boys, who often called what they wrote in their “journals” – it sounded less froufrou. Yet the contents of each would be precisely the same – scribbled paragraphs of melancholy introspection alternating with soppy effusions over that unattainable heartthrob in English class. I speak from experience.

Washington Post