Kids are pretty innovative, but they’re also very stupid. They’ll come up with some amazing ways to cheat on tests and then ruin it by being so obvious about it.

My generation’s genius move was transcribing entire tests on a scientific calculator and then handing it off to someone else. Of course, when half the kids in the class are passing around calculators during a history exam, the teachers caught on and our master plan was foiled.

Painstakingly writing text on a scientific calculator was as technologically advanced as it got for us. All other means of communication were done the old fashioned way: by scribbling on a piece of loose leaf, folding it up, and hand-delivering it to its recipient. These days, it seems like that process is rivaled in oldness only by the Pony Express.

Writing notes was a rite of passage, but it wasn’t just the writing that was awesome. Folding it was an art form in and of itself. There were tons of unique ways to fold a note, which you can see here. I used to fold mine like the two on the bottom right. Though the triangle was always a safe standby, since it doubled as a paper football.

I think the different folds were determined by the sensitivity of the note’s contents. Once you started getting three-dimensional, there was some seriously secretive stuff going on. Crushes were definitely involved.

On the top shelf in my closet, I have a box filled with dozens of old notes that I got when I was in middle school and high school. I’m sure a lot of you do too. I read through a bunch not too long ago, and I have no idea why I saved some of them. But there are definitely a few that completely and totally sum up my life at the time.

Fifteen years from now, I doubt my kids will have any sort of paper trail. They’ll have a bunch of texts and emails, I guess, but their “Box of Stuff” will be lacking all that personality.

Almost every kind of communication we have with each other is digital. People don’t write letters, they only send cards when they have to, and I know a lot of people who prefer bringing their laptop to a meeting instead of a notebook. Where’s the fun in that? Are you supposed to doodle on MS Paint?

I had a friend tell me that she hasn’t gotten someone’s number on a piece of paper in years. Granted, that’s a small thing, but think about it. When was the last time you wrote your number down to give it to someone? Five or six years ago?

The little changes are what makes me nervous. They happen so gradually and so casually that you never even realize your life is totally changing in front of your eyes. I think I said that exact line in a previous post. Just pretend I didn’t.

I think I’m gonna start writing notes again. The other day I realized I’m addicted to “screens”, and I’m trying to kick the habit. I stopped watching TV during dinner, and maybe I’ll stop typing these blogs and just mail you all handwritten notes instead.

Just don’t expect a Christmas Card too. I’m only human.

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