I use paper. Digital notes are great if you need them to be available everywhere, or edit them time and time again, but paper is still significantly better for me.
I keep my recipes in Keep and on my personal website, because I often amend them. However I discovered that printed recipes are much more pleasant to use.
Likewise, I'd much rather have a dirty notebook to sketch and write on when I'm working in the garage, or anywhere that's not my desk
For most things, paper works best for me for capture, and then the additional step of transcribing / summarizing into my corpus of org files gives me a chance to structure and review.
But I have a notebook and a (fountain!) pen on my desk all day long, right next to my keyboard and mouse.
It's just my opinion, but nothing beats paper. I have tried keeping note files on my computer, and I've tried using tablets to jot things down (I have spent so much money trying to get this option to work). Paper just works better. I found that I like to scribble and underline, and draw. I'm just not an organized thinker. Forcing things to be in a list don't work for my thoughts and even drawing on an iPad etc. seems too constricting. The precision of paper just isn't there.
I was close to pulling the trigger on one, since I also doodle a lot. Then I realised it would be yet another gadget that annoys me because it does annoying gadget things.
Paper doesn't require an account, or updates. It doesn't require repeating a task because it didn't get it. It doesn't have a community that tries to pick up where the manufacturer left off. It's also a hundredth of the price.
That effect is heavily driven by writing things down in your own words - writing by hand essentially forces you to do it, keyboard lets you get away with transcription, which doesn't help.
Just got mine a couple weeks back and it's great! The software could use some additional features, but thanks to the open platform, it is getting them from some dedicated users.
was about to say something similar, but using OneNote while working on Surface Book 2, taking handwritten notes with Surface Pen. Totally recommends it.
I graduated college in 1984, so my note taking was entirely pen & paper. What's the norm in college nowadays? Is everyone banging away on laptops? That seems like it would be distracting to me.
If it is laptops, what software do people use? Simple text editor, Word...?
I can’t use pen and paper because I’m surrounded by nosy people who don’t know to respect my privacy. And if I put some kind of lock on a physical diary or something, they complain that I am hiding something.
Privacy and integrity in your own thoughts and explorations is a valid concern and basic need. You have every right to say "this is mine and does not concern you".
Establish limits and set boundaries, if you have to. If that means a locked room, desk, trunk, or other means, then do that. Often the best way to establish boundaries is to assert them.
You situation sounds intrinsically toxic. I understand you're married with family --- if that's where the privacy issues are (rather than at work), you might want to consider family counseling. A lack of basic trust or respect is a bad sign.
Meantime, digital encrypted systems may be more appropriate, though personal notations and code can help with paper --- you're not the first person to have nosy neighbours.
Reasonable or not, one difficulty I have with keeping any kind of journal is that I keep thinking of the fact that it may eventually be read and exposed to the cruelest, least charitable interpretation.
Well it won't solve for every case, but you could use the Hindu tantra - vasana daha tantra. You write down your worries, fears, anger - anything troubling you that you want to express - then you burn it.
how do you find anything later? It's a simple capture method, but it doesn't work well for a use case like "oh I talked to that user one time, let me search for them in my notes"
I keep my recipes in Keep and on my personal website, because I often amend them. However I discovered that printed recipes are much more pleasant to use.
Likewise, I'd much rather have a dirty notebook to sketch and write on when I'm working in the garage, or anywhere that's not my desk