The Analog Fail-safe
Monday Memo: 5/11 AD2026
It’s still finals time, so keeping it short again. I refuse to use the staircase method of grading.
Academia was hit hard last week, and it confirms something I have been thinking for about a year: analog tools are not archaic relics; they are essential fail-safes. Everything is fast, immediate and now in the digital world, however, pencil and paper offer a needed friction that simply slows things down. Denken mit der Hand—a philosophy championed by the German stationery house Leuchtturm1917 whose notebooks I love—highlights the cognitive link between tactile movement and intellectual clarity. Lately, many of my best essays began as ink on a page before reaching a Substack draft. Writing by hand forces me to think longer.
This principle extends to the classroom. I have made a gradual transition, a switch where grading by hand is more than a preference; it is a superior method of engagement. While transferring handwritten feedback to a online learning management system is a tedious chore, the act of writing forces a level of critical focus and reflection that typing sometimes shortcuts. Furthermore, these physical records serve as a safeguard should cloud systems or college servers fail.
Analog tools provide essential operational redundancy. Perhaps, digital tools work best when cemented by old foundations and traditions.
There is no future in being a Luddite but neither should we become techno-extremists. Integrating these two worlds ensures that my work is a better considered and frankly easier logistically. Pen and paper are still easier to travel with than a computer and do not require outlets. And the new recycled rock paper from the Australian company Karst—which is highly water resistant—shows that tech can also breathe new light into ancient inventions. Most importantly, they save you the headache of a total work stoppage when systems fail. And perhaps, as my students move into a world increasingly defined by fast AI like Anthropic’s Claude, we need the natural brakes of the cognitive load of writing to ensure our LLM-powered systems remain safe, steerable, and well-considered.
