During the winter of 2024, Rachel Martin came to a startling realization: She spent most of her free time staring at screens. “I couldn’t really think of hobbies or things that I did that took a break from the digital world,” she said. With pastimes like watching television, playing video games and creating digital art, Martin, 33, sometimes spent more than 12 hours per day looking at screens. She longed for an analog alternative. After some trial and error, she found one: journaling with fountain pens and specialty inks. “It’s quite a cool tactile experience,” she said, and one that unexpectedly turned social when she started attending meetups for fountain pen enthusiasts in her city of Sydney, Australia. |
