Free Post-it notes?
Our minds work best when given a pause for good thinking to emerge.
Those that know us, know that we love physical stationary as a mechanism to think clearly.
Pens (usually Uniball), paper (A1 sheets), Post-its (only the originals please) all form part of the IRL-toolkit that we lug around with us to workshops and gatherings.
Some people laugh at this obvious dependancy on dated technology, but we're not alone; the global demand for old school media is strong and amongst youngsters...growing.
As companies spend billions on AI in the race to automate work, a surprising office trend is taking hold among the youngest generation of employees.
Gen Z workers are embracing the decidedly low-tech: premium notebooks, colorful desk pads, handwritten notes, and the humble Post-it.
"A space that I can call my own, I think, is very important," Jessie Lei, a human resources professional, told Business Insider. "It feels like there's a place for me to exist, so my decorations weren't just entirely for aesthetic."
Lei said one of his favorite office "perks" is free Post-it notes, which he began to rely on heavily for meeting notes and pinning reminders to his monitor instead of keeping everything inside Google Docs. The smaller sticky notes also become miniature sketchbooks where Lei doodles cats, birds, and artwork inspired by his favorite songs during breaks.
Now - some pundits put the demand for these, seemingly cumbersome, 'old' technologies down to an 'analogue revival'. Some label this odd behaviour as 'a yearning for things that tick the box of nostalgia'.
We feel that these labels tend to miss the point entirely.
Thinking that the demand for paper is akin to a purposeful form of shameful time travel into the past, is honestly just plain stupid.
Paper doesn't represent a particular historical moment on the world's universal time dimension, but is rather, a practically-useful way to purposefully slow down the present.
Paper is friction.
Putting pen to paper and physically writing stuff offers an obvious speed limit. Our brains physically can't work as fast as our machines do - even though we so desperately wish that they did.
It's a brake pedal for the mind; to stop...think...reflect...ponder. Our minds work best when given a pause for good thinking to emerge.
Paper is sanity.
Free Post-it notes as an office perk is very wise.
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Katherine Li