Tip 78: Mechanical vs. Traditional Pencils

Mechanical pencils are superior to traditional pencils in nearly every way. I will list the advantages of each over the other here and you can decide for yourself that mechanical pencils are better and there's no reason to use traditional pencils.

Advantages of mechanical pencils:
1. Always (relatively) sharp/fine point- writing with a dull point is harder to read and it makes me uncomfortable.
2. Can be any diameter- traditional pencils really only come in one size. If you like your pencils with larger barrels, mechanical is the way to go. This reduces hand fatigue.
3. They can have grippy stuff- you can get grips for traditional pencils too, but they're usually too large compared to the size of the pencil to be comfortable.
4. Replaceable erasers- mechanical pencil's erasers can be replaced, traditional pencil's erasers.... not so much
5. Add more lead- a traditional pencil's life is measured in inches of lead. A mechanical pencil's life can easily be extended by adding more lead.
5. No pencil sharpening or pencil shavings- no need to get up to use the sharpener (which are usually noisy) or to empty said sharpener when it is too full of shavings.
6. Clip on- most mechanical pencils have a clip on them so you can attach them to your clothing, traditional pencils do not have a clip.
7. Save trees- mechanical pencils are not made of wood. Traditional pencils are. Mechanical pencils don't need trees to be cut down to make them. Traditional pencils do.
8. Retractable lead- don't want lead marks in your bag or pocket? Don't like sharp pointy objects in your bag or pocket? Go mechanical.

Advantages of traditional pencils:
1. They're made of wood- some people are into that
2. You can chew on them- can't do this with mechanical pencils very comfortably, but it's bad for your teeth anyway so don't do it
3. They're often yellow- yellow is a good color
4. They're usually cheap- cheap is always good