Dear diary… New Media Review 7

In the New Media Review, we break down 3 tools that could help you personally and/or professionally.

The benefits of journaling are well–documented. Journals provide a space to write without judgement, to clear your mind and reflect. They provide the perfect space to get creative, solve problems and increase your productivity.

This week’s New Media Review will spotlight three of the many online journal platforms currently available.

Journey

Looking for an accessible journal app for your phone and desktop? Journey is an elegant, but powerful journal service.

New entries are created with one tap from the first screen, making Journey an excellent app for speedy journaling. Adding photos to your writing is simple, and Journey even includes some cute animated stickers if you feel your entries need a little extra sparkle.

If you want to categorise your entries, tags can be added and entries can be searched by keyword. Entries can also be browsed by location, calendar or photo.

Want your entries available in a format outside of Journey? It’s straightforward to share them on social media,  or print them from a PDF. Entries can be synced to Google Drive as a back-up.

Journey is freely available for Android, Desk top & the web-based Journey.Cloud. The premium version includes a ‘night mode’, .docx export functionality and full backups.

SomNote

Find long, scrolling, text-based menus difficult to navigate on your phone screen? SomNote provides a colour coded, intuitive journal experience.

SomNote allows you to organise your entries into colourful folders – ideal if you want to make your journal multipurpose. To add to its friendly aesthetic, entries are designed to look like note paper. 1GB of storage is available for free users to add attachments such as images, PDFs and powerpoints to their entries.

Entries can be searched by keyword, and PIN codes can be added to provide an extra layer of security. Your notes can be backed up to the ‘SomCloud’, allowing you to access them on the web version of the service.

SomNote is freely available on Android, iOS, as a Chrome extension and via web. The Premium version includes more storage and allows you to choose different themes.

Bliss

Now for something a little different!

Bliss is a ‘gratitude journal’. If you are having trouble focusing on the positive and finding mean in your work – Bliss provides a reflective experience that you may find beneficial.

Bliss uses positive psychology techniques and aims to improve happiness, motivation and resilience. The service uses themed entries such as ‘transforming problems’, ‘three good things’ and ‘could be worse’. Bliss ask you questions rather than asking for descriptions, challenging the writer to think about the content of their entries. Still struggling with what to write? Bliss will provide prompts and examples for inspiration.

Bliss can also send you notifications based on your previous usage history, or you can choose your own custom notifications to get journal reminders best suited to your schedule.

Bliss is freely available on Android and as an extension for Chrome.