The point of the Pencil

For a while, I’ve tried to use my iPad as much as I can for work, reverting to laptop as and when necessary. Kind of like not pulling out the bazooka when you just need a spoon.

With that experience has come a closer connection to the Apple Pencil — a seeming overpriced novelty instrument that I’ve actually found really fundamental to the experience with that device.

Yes, fingers are intuitive but the fact remains that humans have used tools for a long time now. You could eat with your hands, but there’s a satisfaction in the accuracy of pointers.

Interestingly though, I find I sometimes even carry the pencil across to my laptop work. Or just to a general meeting. Or to make a cup of tea.

It’s becoming like a totem I associate with a certain way of concentrating. A little tie back to the analogue world, and the feeling of creation.

Spinning it is satisfying, and reminds me of staring out the window in class at school. Which is where all the best ideas come from.

In a world of abstract, screen-based work, the “channel” of how we spend our working day can easily end up a silent vigil tapping on keys until the bell tolls.

Instead, spinning a pencil in a meeting with smart people can break us back to the human level where the really valuable stuff comes from.

However irrational or psychosomatic,when form and content match like this, I can’t help but feel good about the work I’m doing.