Thread: Paper dream journal as apposed to online

Personally, I use a Text Document on my computer. I can't write very fast and if I try, it looks horrible, but I'm really good at typing and I go more into detail when typing because I can go a lot faster.


Also, I don't need a paper journal to keep details on my dreams if I'm too tired to get up and type them and want to preserve the dream. I have a small digital camera that has a voice recorder, so I just record whatever I can remember from the dream and analyze it later. Of course the problem with this is it's hard to make out what I was saying sometimes >_>

I'm sure each has its own advantages, but... I use the computer to type up my dreams for two reasons: A) I'm lazy and hate writing by hand and B) I can type faster than I can write and therefore I can get more details in before the dream starts to fade from my memory.

However, I don't leave my computer on all night; when I wake up from a dream, I'm usually forced to ask myself "Is this dream profound enough to make me wanna get up and turn on the computer?" Usually my answer to that is "no" and I fall back asleep; the #1 reason my DJ isn't as full as it could be.

Besides, my other gripe with paper DJs is that...what if it's dark when I wake up? I don't wanna get off my ass and walk halfway across the room to turn on the light. Then I won't be able to go back to sleep.

For me, I always kept my old laptop by my bed and typed dreams into it (until the screen died and it started taking too long to switch on). I never got thehang of writing dreams down. Now I just type them into a notepad file and copy/paste then here. (I don;t think I have a save file on this computer, but I will transfer them to my new laptop when I get one before next semester starts)

Originally Posted by Lëzen

I'm sure each has its own advantages, but... I use the computer to type up my dreams for two reasons: A) I'm lazy and hate writing by hand

yeah the laziness factor is pretty much why i like online journaling, its much quicker for me and I can usually get more information in in a shorter ammount of time. but both is probably ideal from what i'm hearing... and its probably fact that the more you write down your dreams the more your likely to remember over time.

I like to type mine up on the computer, because when I first wake up from a dream I like to write it down ASAP. Writing by hand just takes too long, and/or if you start getting writer's cramp then you focus on that and the dream slips away quickly. I can type about 97 words/minute, which is WAY faster than I write Plus you can bold, italicize, etc. Once I've written it out and scanned over it a bunch of times my memory of the whole dream sticks, and I can easily add to it (versus the confusing arrows in my handwritten journal!) if I remember some other details.
I don't know what, scientifically, works better, but for me a digital dream journal works fine

Well I USED to write my dreams down, then one day my mom found them and read them to everyone at the thanksgiving dinner table. I was so embarrassed I stopped writing them down.

I get most of you would say "whats the big deal", but they were some really really random dreams and everyone was laughing lol it was terrible.

Originally Posted by last_apoc

Well I USED to write my dreams down, then one day my mom found them and read them to everyone at the thanksgiving dinner table. I was so embarrassed I stopped writing them down.

I get most of you would say "whats the big deal", but they were some really really random dreams and everyone was laughing lol it was terrible.

Yet another reason I don;t use a paper journal.

My PC takes a while to load up, but a paper journal is easilly used in a hurry, transported and hidden in a backpack if I'm travelling. Its far better.

Writing feels more immediate to me anyway. And having all my dreams in books helps me keep track of them better. Transferring dreams onto computer is a bit of a chore unless its a blog like this site gives us.