How to keep a voice journal (and turn your entries into text)

Why people keep one

• It's easier to keep up than a written diary, especially on busy days.
• Talking out loud helps some people sort through a decision or a messy day.
• It becomes a record of a period you'll want to remember: a pregnancy, a move, a first year somewhere new, a parent's last years.
• Years later, hearing your own voice from that time is different from reading about it.

How to start

Keep the bar low. Pick a time that already exists in your day, like the drive home or the last thing before bed, and record for two to five minutes. Start each entry with the date and where you are. If you don't know what to say, use a prompt:

• What happened today that I want to remember?
• What's taking up the most space in my head right now?
• What went better than I expected this week?
• What am I putting off, and why?
• Who did I talk to today, and how did I feel after?
• What would I tell myself a year from now?

Where to record

Your phone's built-in recorder works fine: Voice Memos on iPhone or the recorder that comes with most Android phones. You can also open Dolcenota in your phone's browser and record there, with nothing to install; keep the page open and the screen on while you talk, since phones can pause the microphone when the screen locks or you switch apps.

If you already have entries in your phone's recorder, upload the files (mp3, m4a, wav and others work). You can combine several short entries into one transcript, for example a whole week.

Turning entries into text

A few minutes after you upload or stop recording, you get the entry as text with a timestamp on every line, and a short summary. That's what makes a voice journal useful later: you can skim a month in minutes, copy a paragraph into a letter, or ask the chat something like "When did I first mention the new apartment?" and get an answer from your own words.

You can export entries as TXT, PDF or Word if you'd like a printed journal at the end of the year. If you switch between English and Spanish, both are detected automatically.

Keeping it private

• Record where you won't be overheard, and use headphones to listen back in public.
• In Dolcenota your recordings are visible only to you, stored encrypted and never used to train AI models.
• You can delete any entry, or everything, at any time.
• Protect your phone with a passcode; that's where most journals leak.

A note on hard days

Many people journal through difficult times, and talking things through can feel good. A journal isn't a substitute for professional support, though. If you're struggling, reach out to someone you trust or a mental health professional; in the US you can call or text 988.