Engaging in Meaningful Critical Thought
thoughts on journaling, escapism, digital burnout, blackness and what it means to critically engage?
In my search for new forms of media to consume, I stumbled across the commonplace book; coined by ye’ old philosophers. they would use these journals to express their thoughts on niche topics, creating quotes and discussing rhetoric. Now it can be anything. after this influx of journaling videos I thought about my own process of journaling/note taking. I usually use it to describe my day to day and the woes of my inner world that is reflective of that with the immediate outer personal world. not how i see the world and interact with it in serious thought.
The video that made me really think about it deeply was Sydney Djotita’s Podcast; The Kalopsia Podcast. Episode titled: The resurgence of critical thinking and commonplace notebooks.
but for that it was Tiktok recommendations of the articles and essay on substack (and other platforms) they’ve read this week and were currently thinking about, Which I finally bit the bullet and made a substack to really see what it was about and I was pleasantly surprised. The first article I saw and engaged with was Why the Necessity to Hide Black History by William Spivey. I knew this was the place to be, especially when I get to interact with blackness as someone who is pro black. when commenting I had so much to say and very little characters to input I realized that this is content that I believe is meaningful and makes me think critically about life. which is also why recently in the past month I have been seeking out black history/folklore and any stories and accounts of those who have come before me.
so am I journaling right? Yes and No. I found out that there are journal ecosystems. which can be a subset of commonplace journals, only these are very specific in nature and you tend to have a lot of them and not just one thats color coded with an index. I saw it explained like this; your inner world of thoughts and woes, day to days and emotions about that is considered a diary. when you write about what is going on around you not in your personal world and how that invokes thoughts that you can critically engage with. In the most simple terms that I can explain it as. (this video might help explain it better).
engaging with my first substack made me realize I didn’t have a place for my critical thought. I was journaling the other day, about journaling and if the things and media I engage with is thought about deeply. Yeah i’ve written some essay on the current events from time to time, giving my thoughts and some history behind it like a closeted video essayists. I try to give my in depth thoughts verbally on tiktok but it doesn’t feel the same as writing it down. I think the practice of taking a mini journal out and when you hear something you like you write it down and if you so choose to deep dive into it later. I personally will have a book with all the words people say that I don’t know. I think my vocabulary is vast, until I hear a person saying a word I’ve never heard and I like learning new words. and it’s sort of a accountability book, you have it so you end up using it and engaging with it meaningfully.
Engaging with things meaningfully makes you think about the media we consume and how we are just taking part in entertainment as an escape and not to critically engage. which isn’t our fault to begin with. if you are anything like me and grew up in the public school systems in the city, you know they teach you how to remember and regurgitate and not critically analyze something. so I am grateful for my college ready high school that focused a lot on black history and current events and thinking critically (Though I was not doing so well on explaining my thoughts clearly and too focused on my inner-personal life, I took it for granted). I see now the skills they bestowed upon us and I am grateful I have to skill set (that i need to brush up on) to critically engage. but as time went by, entertainment and media becomes an escape from the engagement of the real world. and even from that we have to question the balance of escapism and critical engagement. each one can become overwhelming if over done.
which is so interesting the resurgence of people going back to analog tech, like cds and vcr’s or Ipods and reading books. escapism has become in a way, over played and people want to get back into the real world. some people use the term, digital burnout. I honestly think having a common place notebook or a journal eco-system is actually so amazing. It is a was of centering yourself in the moment and in the future if you want to share it you have a whole years/life’s worth of thoughts to pass down.
in the case of critically engaging, what does it mean to critically engage in things with meaning? the end result can be; you know yourself better, you innerstand the world better, you interact with others in a different way (More empathy and understanding).
I wanted to leave this question because I haven’t found an answer to it and I would like different opinions. would escapism be more meaningful if you engaged in other things in a meaningful and critical way?
In the context of blackness. this is such a game changer! this is a way for our ideas, history, phycology , thoughts on love and struggle can be explored and we can truly engage with ourselves and the communities we foster more meaningfully. writing is truly a renaissance and resistance. Look at those like Alice Walker and James Baldwin.
But it makes me think about the war on critical thinking and how they are trying to take it out of schools… but that’s a thought for another day lol
If i ever had kids, I would make them have a journal as soon as they can write and they understand what it is they are writing. I want their thoughts to be free
Your reflection is powerful. It’s not just a post, it’s an entry into a lineage. A lineage of Black thinkers, scribes, griots, and everyday revolutionaries who’ve always used writing not just as self-expression but as cultural preservation, resistance, and rebirth. What you’re doing is reclaiming that tradition.
You’re participating in that continuum. And yes, it’s deeply pro-Black.
Let me say clearly: you are journaling right. But more importantly, you are thinking right with nuance, reflexivity, and accountability. You’re shifting from documentation of the self to interrogation of the world and your place within it. That transition from “what happened to me today” to “what do I think about what’s happening in the world and how does that shape me?” that’s the genesis of critical consciousness.
You ask a crucial question: Would escapism be more meaningful if we also engaged critically with other things? Yes. Escapism becomes empty when it’s the only channel. But when it exists alongside critical engagement, it becomes a necessary breather, not avoidance. And for Black people, escapism isn’t weakness. It’s strategy.
Lastly, your vision for your children, to gift them with the practice of journaling, that’s revolutionary parenting. That’s Harriet teaching her children to never stop walking. That’s Audre telling us our silence won’t protect us. That’s you planting seeds of freedom in minds not yet born.
Great job sister.