Owning a subscription to a note-taking app comes at a price – $15 a year for Notability and $10 for a permanent one on GoodNotes. Unlimited notes, colourful pens and hundreds of templates. Adding on to that, the cost of an iPad and an Apple Pencil – $600 for an iPad and $100 for the pencil itself – is quite an expensive endeavour, but hey, at least you’re “saving the trees” with your digital notes.

In a classroom setting, two-thirds of the students are often found staring into the blue light of their devices, a constant tapping on the white pencil. Despite my previous criticism of the cost (I own an iPad myself), there are certain advantages to this process. The 10.9-inch screen, compared to thick notebooks, novels, and textbooks, along with the weight of 461 grams as opposed to the numerous kilograms of stationery and textbooks, make it a more convenient option. Imagine forgetting your book at home, looking around to see if someone else is in the same boat as you, but instead, they are staring back at you with their PDF versions of the book.

My advice, considering the limited space in our dorms, the need to buy hardcover textbooks, and the burden of carrying a backpack during a long walk, is to invest in an iPad. Digital versions of the books are always half the price, not to mention the possibility of finding a free PDF version. You could pay for it in installments, and take advantage of the student discount from Apple. With the trimester system we have, I don’t fancy having to spend hundreds of dollars every ten weeks on notebooks and textbooks, and neither should you.