Tired of distractions, never being able to find your notes, and general fatigue from always being on a phone, computer, or tablet? Try paper.

Paper books seem absurdly old-fashioned, and yet nearly all of our “productivity” apps mimic aspects of paper and paper notebooks. The iPad and Apple Pencil attempt to create a literal recreation in silicon, glass, aluminum, and plastic, and they still don’t come close. And that’s because they miss the point. Paper is perfect because it’s so open. You can do anything with it, it’s always ready, the batteries never die, and you’ll never lose a note to a dead battery, crash, or ransomware attack. Let’s take a look at why paper is still worth using.

"The iPad is more than just a pen-and-paper replacement in many ways, but it's not always the best. Paper is easy to fold and can be cut to fit any size," handwriting and speech trainer Amanda Green told Lifewire via email. "Paper and pens are available almost everywhere and are relatively inexpensive. Off-grid, pen-and-paper work can be done [in any state]. Even though the iPad is a small device, it takes up more space than a pen-and-paper option. [And] to charge it, you need power."

Let’s get the obvious problem out of the way right away. If you use paper, you’re killing trees, right? Sure, and even if you use recycled paper, recycling takes a lot of resources. But every time you use a paper notebook instead of lighting up your iPhone screen, you’re saving energy. And compared to the amount of paper and cardboard that wraps your food and ends up in your mailbox as junk mail, a paper notebook isn’t going to make much of a difference.