Presenter: This is Do you know your teenager? Hello and welcome! In our studio today is Katie, a thirteen-⁠year-⁠old, to tell us all about bullet-⁠journaling, a new teenage obsession. Good morning, Katie!

Katie: Good morning!

Presenter: Well, let’s start from the very beginning. What is a bullet journal?

Katie: Technically speaking, it’s quite self-⁠explanatory. It’s just a notebook with dots rather than lines. But it also means a personalized planner where you can create all sorts of lists, calendars, where you set goals for yourself. You can also doodle and draw in it, make it colourful if you like, do anything, really.

Presenter: You know what I find strange about it? Today, when everyone is so much into technology, everyone is constantly online, an obsession with something as old-⁠fashioned as a paper planner emerges. And not only that! If you go to any stationary store, you will find all sorts of premade planners, in any price range and with any design imaginable, including those that encourage you to be creative, and yet, people get obsessed with just a blank notebook with dots!

Katie: Well, there are several reasons for bullet-⁠journaling. Of course, it is a planner. But premade planners have the same amount of space for every week or day, and in real life days can be different. So planners are not really convenient. As for the gadgets, people use many different apps, and still use little pieces of paper and post-⁠it notes and then lose them. In a bullet journal you have your whole life in the same place in the way you find most convenient. You can plan your day in every detail today but not tomorrow. You can create a list of books you want to read in a year and then follow your progress daily or weekly. You can do it in writing or in pictures, symbols or graphs. Whatever works for you. Whatever motivates you to do things and not be lazy.

Presenter: Hmmm… Maybe I should try it! But judging by the beautiful bullet journals I’ve seen on the Internet, I don’t have enough patience or talent to do anything even remotely as creative. I think I’m too old to develop this new skill.

Katie: That’s one of the biggest misconceptions about bullet journaling. It doesn’t have to be pretty. And another one, for some reason you believe that bullet journaling is something only teenagers do. In fact, it was invented by a grown-⁠up man.

Presenter: No kidding!

Katie: It’s true! A web-⁠designer who had problems with his attention span. That’s why he started it. His journals are not pretty at all, but they serve a purpose  — to make your life easier.

Presenter: Fascinating! My last question for you  — can you think of anything negative about bullet journaling?

Katie: Well, if you asked my mom, she would probably tell you that it takes way too much time and is a way of procrastinating, constantly planning what you need to do rather than doing it.

Presenter: You don’t share her opinion, do you?

Katie: I might, if bullet journaling was just about planning. But it is so much more! It helps you relieve anxiety and stress. Especially when you get overwhelmed with what you need to do  — school work, home chores, sports, and social life on top of that! Even having fun with friends at times can become too much to deal with. But when you sit down and dump everything from your brain onto a page of the bullet journal and organize everything logically, the busiest schedule appears doable. It’s a huge stress relief! And while you are working on your bullet journal, you calm down. It’s quite meditative!

Presenter: Now I totally think I’ll give it a try. Thank you, Katie, and good luck with your bullet journaling and school!

Katie: Thank you!