The Pencil Phenomena

Shalom, my beloved readers. May God bless you with all the best

For more reading, head here https://www.patreon.com/Thomasbudi2000/posts 

Have you ever think over the humble pencil? Not the high tech mechanical kind, the old school wooden pencil kind. Do you know how old the idea of putting graphite between wood is?

oldest pencil in the world from 17th century on display in Faber Castell castle

Graf Von Faber Castell is still around after making the wooden pencil for centuries. Established in 1761, they are still going strong today despite all the innovation and technological advancement over all the centuries. Even Faber Castell themselves make fountain pens, ballpoints, and mechanical pencils as well as other art supplies. I can say that they are the living witness of how the humble wooden pencil persist today even after all the new innovation arrived.

Why does such a modest and simple idea stand through time and innovation? We can see the CRT TV perish in no time after the flat screen panel comes up. Nowadays my kids were surprised to see the CRT TV. They never saw it in their life. My 13 years old daughter has no memory recollection of it even though she watched it until she was four years old, I believed. The CRT TV was around with us for decades since the era of black and white and just vanished in less than a decade of time.

The mechanical pencil was around for decades, why the humble wooden pencil still exist and loved today until the unforeseeable future? Also, why is the hammer stay the same since the middle age until today? Chopsticks, spoon, fork, axe, knife, nail, and so on stay practically the same since the oldest found relic. I believe this is the phenomena that I name the Irreducible Function.

Some tools are just basic necessities to work as air, water and food to keep us alive. Without food, air, and food, we perished. Without those basic tools, we cannot do our work, or worse, can't even think straight. I know I can't get my thoughts organized without writing it down prior to typing it. I still use my beloved fountain pens until today, at least its younger sibling the ballpoint to get my thoughts organized before I can type them down. From here on out, when I mention pen, I mean it as fountain pen as I rarely use ballpoint to get my thoughts on paper. Ballpoint just did not give me enough stimulant to think properly.

No matter how much technology advances, we still rely on our basic five senses of sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch. I rely heavily on touch as I am a kinesthetic type person. Thus, the tactile sensation plays a big role in me. Pencil and fountain pens serve as the perfect tools for us to get our thought out on paper. No matter how much the stylus evolved, it still can't replicate the feeling of pencil and pen on paper. I believed, as long as we do not change drastically as a species, some things will stay the same. I don't know if in the future we gain or lose a sense or two, maybe we will develop different tools as the new Irreducible Function. Until then, I don't see how we can do our job without these basic tools.

Interesting facts why I need my pen on paper to organize my thoughts. It is not because of how homogenous the feeling is, it is the exact opposite. Pencil and pen on paper always give me a different sensation from pen to pen. Every sheet of paper has a different surface and different feel. Some are really smooth, some, not so much. Different brand of paper has a different texture, different thickness, there are so many variations on paper alone and I only use mainly 2 types of papers from 2 brands. The fountain pen is no different, even the same brand, the same type will have slight variations. Different brand will have different styling, different nib. Different models will have different ergonomic, different handling. All of them are subtle, but it is enough to give me a different sensation. It is never monotonous to write with fountain pen on paper. And I am not even into inks! So many different brands with different characteristic, different flow, many colours to choose from. It all gives me rich stimulation as I write.

a page from my notes, I use a different colour for each points

The stylus gives me exact feel every time from stylus to stylus (same brand, same type. Different brand and type do give different feel), from one gadget to the next. They are all smooth glass surface or screen protector, very very closely manufactured to the highest standard, almost all 100% uniform. Given I only use Android gadgets to ease management, it is very very homogenous. I just don't work well on them when it comes to organizing my thoughts. Others will have a different experience and prefer tech over old-school tools. My daughter prefers her phone to make notes as she types faster than write and she argues that she will never lose the notes as she also backs it up to cloud server. I just can't get my mind organized without pen on paper. She did prefer pencil on paper when it comes to her art. She complains all the time that she cannot draw as well on tablet compare to pencil on paper. Digitizing her art is simply scanning her work as she can't edit and draw directly on a tablet using the drawing software. I guess she gets some of the kinesthetic sides from me and the visual traits from her mom, my wife. I am dominantly kinesthetic and secondarily auditory so the feel of pen on paper and the sound of pen making slight scratches on paper is the stimulant that I need very much to organize my thought. Try to give yourself different stimulant next time you get to a jam. You will be surprised at how much you can do just by changing the stimulant a bit. Maybe the old school tools is just what the doctors order to spice your life a bit.

Thank you for reading. Please share if you find it interesting. God bless, have a wonderful week.