We have our attention so broken that a buoyant industry has emerged: keyboards “without distractions”

In 2024 more than 90,000 books. It is estimated that in the United States the figure was much greater and reached three millionincluding self -published books. Those numbers make something very clear: The world has been filled with writers.

Those who write do so in addition to many ways. The traditional typewriter has practically disappeared to give way to the computer, and the versatility of this technological product has made the experience more personal than ever.

The blank folio, but on the screen

Thus, while some write on the desktop computer, others do it in the laptop, but in that experience they import the details, such as the type of keyboard used – with the popular ones Mechanical keyboardsfor example – or, of course, the application that each one uses to write.

The famous case of George Rr Martin with The mythical and very old Wordstar It is almost anecdotal, because there are currently many more modern rivals. Microsoft Word is the obvious option, but the rivals have pressed remarkably in this sector. Thus, a huge amount of applications and services designed for writers have appeared such as Scrivener, Ulysses, iawriter, Manuskripteither Ghostwriter.

In many cases one of the foci of these applications was not just to help the writer in areas such as the structure of the novel or the organization of the characters and the plot. They also usually have a mode without distractions, which usually manifest with the digital version of the blank folio: the totally empty interface, without tool or menus bars. Only a cursor flashing and waiting for us.

Welcome to keyboards without distractions

These software applications are also accompanied by some hardware devices specifically written oriented. They are a modern version of traditional writing machines: products totally thought to do one thing and only one: write.

These “keyboards without distractions“They usually integrate small screens in which the text we are writing is showing, but there is nothing more than we can do with them. They have internet connectivity, but only with the aim of being able to synchronize those texts with the cloud to save them. Nothing of web browsers, no social networks, nothing of (is supposed to) distractions. All of them try to create a” concentration bubble “so that whoever writes is centered exclusively on it.

The clear reference in this segment is Freewriteof the Astrohaus company, which manufactures several keyboards without distractions with that proposal. In them we normally have:

• Internet connectivity
• Small but sufficient flash memory to store several manuscripts
• Internal battery
• Screen: Normally of electronic ink, but also LCD

This electronic ink screen of several models makes it more comfortable to have long writing sessions and contributes to the autonomy of the battery being lasting. The most remarkable alternative to Freewrite machines is Pomberaof the Japanese company King Jim, which has launched some of its smodels on collective financing platforms such as Indiegogo.

It is, of course, devices with a high price for how specific they are. Here it is likely that the limited production lots will ensure these products, but still Your price/benefits ratio is not remarkable. Freewrite Traveler, for example, has a price of 603.95 euros In the official Freewrite store. Pomera’s recent rival – with LCD screen – has an official price of $ 449, almost 400 euros.

In Xataka we have contacted three users of these devices: two of them English -speaking, and a young Spanish. All of them have bought and used at least one of these types of keyboards without distractions or some similar alternative, and have had the kind of sharing the experience with us.

Looking for digital substitute to the notebook and the ball

ILIA EPIFANOV, writer and editorhe has published more than 30 works, among which are short stories, books and even comics. When he decided to buy one of these devices, he tells us, “I was looking for a compact machine and allowed me to write without distractions.” Discovered the Freewrite devices“But the price seemed high, and I also looked for something more portable.

Ended up deciding on the Nokia E7a smartphone launched in 2011 that had a drop -down physical keyboard under the housing. “It is small, well done and causes nostalgia,” he said, “although it certainly has its limitations.” He admits that he would not recommend it to most people, especially since the keyboard is not suitable for use for long periods of time.

But for this user one of the keys to this old device is that it is old and most of its applications are useless today. That makes it focus only as a keyboard without distractions, because as he says “I love its simplicity: you display the keyboard and simply write.”

Carl Dikington “Pseudonym that.” Use in Reddit Our second guest – is an autonomous worker who writes both professionally and for hobby. He also began looking for alternatives to write without distractions, and began by the cheapest and less technological: a notebook and a ball.

He soon realized that did not seem practical, and after looking for devices of this type, he opted for the Freewrite Traveler, who chose for his portability but that “if I am honest, I chose in front of others for aesthetic reasons. I simply liked her appearance, and I thought that if I was going to spend a good part of the day looking at him, I wanted me to like her design.” This type of products “do not magic,” he confessed.

“You still need to force yourself to sit and write, and that will always be a complex task. And that is the real problem. We let computers distract us because we want to avoid the difficulty of writing. Eliminating those distractions does not eliminate the desire to be distracted, and the world has a lot of additional distraction sources to which we can submit.”

It is an important reflection, and reveals the reality of some devices that of course avoid the distractions of a laptop, but cannot fight against many other stimuli around us, the first of which is the mobile.

Even so, he confesses, for him he is “pleasant” writing in the Freewrite Traveler, both at the visual and tactile level. The product, stood out, was practical: “I could take it with me everywhere, create an initial draft, and then easily transfer the text to my computer to edit it.” However, his machine spoiled less than a year after buying it, something that apparently is common Among the Users of this modelespecially due to the problems that They arise with their keys.

That has made Dikington say that I would not recommend this specific product to anyone. Although these types of devices are striking, “they would be recommended only to people who had realistic expectations because You will not solve your problems as a magically writer“But yes, he also admits that he frees you from the” unpleasant and harmful to write on a computer “:

“The glow of the screen, the innumerable distractions, the ease with which you can engage in an endless self -edition, and the psychological ramifications of being on the same device in which you send emails, you make your taxes, read the news, discuss with strangers, play, see netflix, and God knows what else … as long as you also keep your phone, these devices More or less. “

There is no perfect solution

Eduardo Robsy (@Edurobsy), Economist and writer, is persistent. It has been looking for alternatives to the PC or portable to write, and has tried everything. He started trying to get used to using a smartphone and a Bluetooth external keyboard.

The problem, it confesses, is that the mobile represents “a constant temptation” even in the best case, to document or verify some documentation. He also experimented with an Android Electronic Ink screen, a good compact mechanical keyboard and the IA Writer application, but that did not quite convince him either. In both the sacrifices were too important.

Ended looking for a specialized device and found a second hand a Alphasmart Neowith a small non -backlit LCD screen and that does not even work with a rechargeable battery, but with batteries. Its low consumption means that even with that option autonomy is huge, about 700 hours.

The product, launched about 15 years ago, has important limitations, and for example its small memory is not able to store more than 200 text pages. It was not possible to configure the keyboard in Spanish, but did not quite convince him. The thing, yes, improved.

His next step was to buy a King Jim Pomera DM-100 —Descatalogued by The manufacturer-, that had backlit screen, was compact and comfortable but that again imposed limitations, especially for being a product initially thought for the Japanese market. The keyboard was not configurable either, although Robsy himself programmed a small Web utility To convert texts and change for example the appearances of “: a” by “á”. I still did not compensate to use these products, which fought you from the distractions but condemned you to suffer other problems.

His last acquisition has been the Freewrite Alphaone of the best known machines in this area, something more affordable than the Traveler. The keyboard confesses “is quite noisy” and even putting silicone washers under the keys “the space bar is still thunderous.” But it is configurable, which allows us to use all the characters of a conventional Spanish keyboard.

It has other pights, such as that it lacks function keys, or selection functions, copied and stuck, and that makes Robsy “only serve for what Freewrite intended: to type very quickly, without distractions, to achieve a first draft work, in dirty, which then edit from a complete computer.”

With the Freewrite Alpha, he encountered a remarkable, but not perfect tool. As he explained, “it is still a good tool to do what was designed for: Write without looking back To get, as soon as possible, a first draft of any text. “

After all this trip, for him the conclusion that can be applied to all these devices is clear: “None of them is perfect. All of them stand out in some aspect and show deficiencies in others.” In fact, he explains,

“The tool without distractions does not work because, however, no matter how well designed it is, it is our brain that is permeable to distraction. The important thing, after all, is to write. Everything else is nothing more than excuses not to do so, not to dedicate the time and energy it requires. “

Image | Freewrite

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