Miss Being Tactile? Is There An App For That?

*from the dusty archives…

CBS Sunday Morning had an intriguing story about pens.  Not the disposable pens you pick up at CVS or Walgreens for a couple dollars, but beautiful, hand-crafted fountain pens.  The story detailed quality pens and the popularity of collecting them.  The issue comes when a pen is damaged because there are almost no craftsmen left who repair pens.  One man, Richard Binder, known as “The Pen Doctor” is changing that.  He was a developer of high-tech computer software and gave that up to use his skill at repair and crafting fountain pens.  Taking on the art of re-crafting these pen tips is turning a once lost job into a busy, profitable career for Richard.

We live in such a fast-paced world, I wonder if more and  more people are missing being tactile. We walk around with our smart phones in our faces, texting, tweeting, and updating our FaceBook sites.  We have voice mail, DVR, video games to help us exercise, and technology in almost every aspect of our lives.  I’m as guilty of this as anyone.  But, like the Pen Doctor, I am finding that I miss being tactile.

I miss the days of writing everything in my life down in my Franklin Planner.  I miss the need to go to a library once in awhile and use the old card catalog to find a book.  The feeling of flipping those little cards and trying to determine where the book is located.  Then, finding the book and reading though the yellowed pages that smell a bit musty.

The days of circling ads in newspapers, clipping coupons, writing someone down in your Rolodex, and writing checks are almost gone.  But somehow, I still find that seeing a story about fountain pens makes me want to buy one.  I miss writing all my thoughts down in a journal with a really nice pen.  I should really go get one.  Now…..is there an app for that?

What do you miss that has fallen to the wayside now that technology has improved?  I invite you to share in the comments.