“The best thinking has been done in solitude,” Thomas Edison once said, “the worst has been done in turmoil.”
This sentiment, from the inventor of the phonograph, feels particularly relevant in a world where technology has made it easier than ever to work, create and collaborate – while making it harder to find the space to think clearly. We have powerful tools at our fingertips, but they bring their own demands: emails, notifications, messages, multiple tabs and the temptation to multitask. With AI accelerating the journey from idea to execution, it’s easy to move from input to output without stopping to think.
Yet creativity, lateral thinking and good judgment remain uniquely human strengths.
Perhaps the answer lies in pen and paper. Writing, sketching and allowing ideas to develop without distraction can create a valuable pause between taking something in and acting on it. Add digital functionality to that simple process, and you have the reMarkable paper tablet – which combines the tactile experience of pen and paper with the convenience of digital storage, searchability and connectivity.
Since their launch a decade ago, the Norwegian company’s range of paper tablets have been designed to preserve the process of thought and expression with as few distractions as possible. You can arrange ideas, doodle, brainstorm, outline workflows, sketch or annotate; then rearrange, edit and share them.
Distractions undermine quality and increase stress. A study by the University of California Irvine found that it can take as long as 23 minutes to refocus properly after a distraction.
“A lot of people finish work and feel they managed to achieve nothing because they spent all their time putting out fires, answering emails, reacting to constant pings,” says Jon Dalvang, vice president and head of paper tablet product management at reMarkable. “Our paper tablets let you take a pause from that world to think things through.”
While conventional devices compete to prove how much they can do, reMarkable’s make a virtue of how little they are prepared to do. The rest is up to the user.
“Traditional laptops and tablets are excellent tools for communication and execution, but the beautiful thing about paper is the freedom to illustrate exactly what you want,” says Dalvang. “It doesn’t constrain you. You act intuitively, expressing yourself with free form thinking. A paper tablet is bridging these two worlds.”
reMarkable has three devices on the market: reMarkable Paper Pro, its most advanced – with a colour display; reMarkable Paper Pro Move, a portable version; and reMarkable Paper Pure, launched this year.
reMarkable Paper Pure is an elegant, slim e-ink paper tablet with a monochrome canvas display, mimicking ink on a page. Essentially, the technology uses microscopic, electrically charged particles that physically move to the surface of the screen when a companion stylus passes over the surface. The company’s engineers conducted more than 100,000 unique tests using different compositions of tip material against various types of screen surfaces. More than 1,000 variations of glass texture alone were trialled to create the right paper-like experience.
In the hand, the tip of the marker writes authentically on the reMarkable Paper Pure. The pen marks show precisely where the tip makes contact without lag. Clicking between pen and pencil options and weights makes it easy to produce different line thicknesses or shade. Mistakes are simple to erase and redo and the reflective display means there’s none of the intrusive blue light found on phones and computer screens. Additional features such as the ability to import and annotate content, and calendar integration, only add to its flexibility.
All of which makes for a natural, absorbing and relaxing user experience. Indeed, the reMarkable Paper Pro became the first paper tablet in the world to become Calm Tech Certified in December 2024. Calm Tech’s programme recognises technology that prioritises user wellbeing by reducing stress and cognitive load. The endorsement could reasonably be applied to all three of the company’s products.
“We are super proud of the awards and continue to be inspired by the objectives of calm technology,” says Dalvang. “And having done scientific research on our products and seeing they have a real effect makes them even more powerful, I think.”
In a study funded by reMarkable but conducted independently by neuroscientist Thomas Ramsøy , users experienced 35% less stress and were 20% more focused when using a paper tablet compared with a PC. Cognitive demand also dropped by 30%, while verbal memory retention increased by 17%.
It’s no wonder, then, that the company has sold more than 3m paper tablets to date, with buyers ranging from individual creatives to major companies – such as tech giant Salesforce. What they all share in common is not just the desire to go paperless, but to enhance the quality of their work.
“Big businesses don’t lack tools for communication and execution – that’s not what we are helping them with,” says Dalvang. “It’s about creating space to focus, think, prepare and make good decisions. If everyone is sitting around with a laptop, there are walls all around. When everyone is using a paper tablet, it changes the dynamics in the room. People look each other in the eye and are able to collaborate. They’re more present in the moment.”
reMarkable’s paper tablets are also popular with a hugely diverse group of creatives and knowledge workers: architects, consultants, designers, musicians, financiers, lawyers, software engineers, executives and even astronauts. Jannicke Mikkelsen, Norway’s first commercial astronaut, is an enthusiastic user.
Which just goes to show that no matter what the task, a reMarkable paper tablet should give you all the space you need for focus.
Find out more about replacing your notes and printed documents with a digital notebook that feels like paper at remarkable.com
This sentiment, from the inventor of the phonograph, feels particularly relevant in a world where technology has made it easier than ever to work, create and collaborate – while making it harder to find the space to think clearly. We have powerful tools at our fingertips, but they bring their own demands: emails, notifications, messages, multiple tabs and the temptation to multitask. With AI accelerating the journey from idea to execution, it’s easy to move from input to output without stopping to think.
This report is published with credit to theguardian.com. Full available text from the wire is above. Read on theguardian.com →
Source: theguardian.com · Mike Pattenden. Published 2 Sept 2026, 09:29 am.
