Building a Post-Quantum Journal: Privacy, Therapy, and Hope in a Watched World
Figure 1 - Illustration of Post Quantum Journalling App with Voice to Text Dictation, Volume Meter, and Word Document Export
Over the last few weekends, I’ve been exploring how to build tools that are resilient in a world where quantum computers threaten to undermine much of today’s cryptography. My starting point was the PQ Quantum Vault Password Manager, an offline, post-quantum–secure application designed to store secrets safely using ML-KEM-1024 key encapsulation and AES-256-CGM encryption. See my previous blog for more information. Once I had that foundation, I realized the same architecture could be extended to something more personal: a post-quantum journalling app.
This project became more than a technical experiment. As I’ve reflected on why I wanted to do this project, I found that part of its meaningful nature to me has to do with systems thinking on adjacent topics. These topics range from mass surveillance, to privacy, mental health, and the simple human need for safe spaces to think and reflect.
Background: The Long Shadow of Surveillance
The desire for private journaling isn’t new. In George Orwell’s 1984, Winston hides a paper notebook from the telescreen in his apartment (Orwell, 1949). For him, writing privately was an act of rebellion against a world where every thought could be scrutinized. The party slogan was, “WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, and IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.” Before Winston wrote his first entry in the journal, he contemplated the question of how difficult it is to communicate with the future. Orwell wrote, “It was of its nature impossible. Either the future would resemble the present, in which case it would not listen to him, or it would be different from it, and his predicament would be meaningless.”
Surveillance has always existed in some form, but in the last century it took on new dimensions:
· Cold War era: Programs like MK-Ultra probed the boundaries of control and secrecy (Marks, 1979; Kinzer, 2019).
· Post-9/11: The PATRIOT Act gave governments new powers to monitor.
· 2013: Edward Snowden revealed PRISM and other NSA programs, showing how broad and indiscriminate the data sweep had become (Greenwald, 2014).
· 2025: We live in what David Lyon calls a “culture of surveillance” — watching is no longer exceptional but routine (Lyon, 2018).
Plato once wrote of the Noble Lie — a story told to preserve order. In our time, the noble lie is this: if we monitor everything, we can prevent every tragedy.
But reality forces choices. Imagine overseeing all U.S. surveillance data and the response thereto. You would have to triage threats:
· Millions: nuclear war, pandemics, cyberattacks.
· Thousands: major terrorism.
· Hundreds: regional attacks.
· Tens: localized events.
· Single digits: suicides, shootings, individuals subject to human trafficking, domestic incidents.
Sadly, individual acts of violence at random locations like school shootings — though heartbreaking — fall on the lower end in that spectrum. They could be prevented technologically, but they are not prioritized by those who may have access to real time data to predict and prevent them (those in possession of mass surveillance data). Other teams and organizations prioritize prevention of these tragedies, those that support mental health and other forward-thinking strategies. Indeed, surveillance may sometimes save lives—by stopping terrorism, detecting violence, or intervening in crises.
But there are also risks. Constant observation shapes how people behave, creates chilling effects, and can be turned to repression. The very tools that protect us can also define us.
A Local Example: Minneapolis
Recently, there was a shooting in Minneapolis and children were the victims of the attack (Breen, 2025). I am truly saddened by this and other incidents both locally and globally, and it made me think about how we might reasonably pursue preventing such incidents. Besides the more positive and proactive approaches in the community to help people when they are struggling and to build inclusive communities, there could be more acute response strategies. That raises a haunting question: what if the modern telescreen had listened more closely?
Imagine if all this person’s words—even private ones at home—had been transcribed. Imagine if emotion detection analyzed his tone, stress, and sentiment to calculate a probability of harm towards others. Could intervention have prevented tragedy? What if I told you, technologically this is all possible and may have happened?
Alternatively, what if people got calls from friendly mental health specialists when the system detected that they were truly struggling with their mental health? Unfortunately, we may not have the resources to do that right now. However, maybe in the future, AI could be deployed to proactively call people and connect them with resources. The ability of AI to hold a real conversation now is vastly superior to a year ago.
And yet, consider the flip side: what if it were me? What if my thoughts, fears, and frustrations were captured and scored in real time? Would I accept constant surveillance if it meant preventing harm? This is the paradox of modern life: surveillance promises safety, but at the cost of freedom. Honestly, if it were fully transparent and people did get calls from local resources or help when they were struggling and this reduced the number of school shootings or reduced human trafficking, I would probably be OK with it.
Building My Post-Quantum Journal
This context inspired me to create a journaling tool that feels like Winston’s notebook — private, personal, and resilient.
Security: The app uses ML-KEM-1024 and AES-256-GCM to protect against “harvest now, decrypt later” attacks. If someone copies your files today, even a future quantum computer won’t unlock them.
Local-first: Entries never touch the cloud. Public keys encrypt; private keys remain offline, ideally on an encrypted flash drive.
Voice journaling: I added offline voice-to-text with the Vosk model, plus a live volume meter for noisy spaces and for visualizing your speech. It worked and I was able to dictate effectively even with a TV blaring YouTube.
Accessibility: A future update could add secure text-to-speech playback, so visually impaired users can both dictate and listen to their journals privately.
But honesty matters: nothing stops your operating system from sniffing inputs before they’re encrypted. OS-level keyloggers or microphone taps are real risks. What this app does is protect against future cryptographic attacks — a meaningful, if partial, defense.
Yes, it’s a little nerdy. But it’s also joyful. I truly had a lot of fun building it and it was the first time I had ever used a voice to text model. There’s something empowering about designing a notebook that exists entirely (mostly?) outside the reach of the telescreen.
Why Journaling Matters — For Everyone
Whether on paper, in a secure app, or even through spoken word, journaling is about creating a sanctuary for your inner life. What would you write if no one else could ever read it?
Gratitude: small joys worth noticing.
Fears and stresses: thoughts too raw to say aloud.
Dreams and ideas: inventions, hopes, philosophies.
Vulnerability: the truths that make you human.
Art: sketches, poems, doodles — creative journaling is valid too.
Research backs this up:
Gratitude journaling improves mood and resilience (Emmons & McCullough, 2003).
Expressive writing reduces stress and even supports physical health (Pennebaker & Smyth, 2016).
Writing from a distanced perspective helps clarity (Kross & Ayduk, 2017).
Recording positive experiences boosts well-being (Burton & King, 2004).
Does it surpass the raw texture of Winston’s paper notebook? Perhaps not. But does it open new possibilities? Absolutely. Encryption, voice transcription, and local-first design together create a notebook that is both timeless and futuristic.
10 Therapeutic Prompts for Journaling
To help get started, here are 10 research-backed prompts you can try—whether on paper, in a secure digital journal, or with voice-to-text:
What are three things I’m grateful for today, and why?
What emotions am I feeling right now? Can I name them without judgment?
What is one challenge I faced this week, and what did I learn from it?
What are three small wins or positive moments I’ve experienced recently?
What fears or worries are occupying my mind, and what’s in my control vs. not in my control?
Who is someone I appreciate, and what would I like to say to them?
If my future self could give me advice, what would they say?
What activities or places make me feel most at peace? How can I bring more of those into my week?
What is something I’ve been avoiding, and what small step could I take toward it?
What do I love most about being alive right now?
Closing Thoughts
The telescreen may surround us, but that doesn’t mean privacy has disappeared. It simply means we must be intentional in how we reclaim it. A post-quantum journal is not just about resisting surveillance—it’s about building a safe space for hope, healing, and creativity in a noisy, watched world.
It’s about gratitude for small joys, vulnerability in facing our fears, and the dignity of thought that deserves protection. It’s about the fun of nerding out on cryptography while rediscovering the timeless act of reflection.
And it’s about joy—the joy of knowing that your words, your drawings, your emotions, your truth—belong first and foremost to you.
In a time when tragedies remind us of our collective fragility, we can still design tools that preserve dignity, foster resilience, and spark creativity. Privacy and care are not opposites. Together, they can help us imagine—and create—a future where technology serves humanity with both security and compassion.
References
Breen, K., (2025, August 27). The Minneapolis school shooter fired at children through church windows. Here's what we know. CBS News. Retrieved September 1, 2025, from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/annunciation-catholic-church-minneapolis-school-shooting/
Burton, C. M., & King, L. A. (2004). The health benefits of writing about intensely positive experiences. Journal of Research in Personality, 38(2), 150–163. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0092-6566(03)00058-8
Emmons, R. A., & McCullough, M. E. (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens: An experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(2), 377–389. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.84.2.377
Greenwald, G. (2014). No place to hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. surveillance state. Metropolitan Books.
Kinzer, S. (2019). Poisoner in chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA search for mind control. Henry Holt and Company.
Kross, E., & Ayduk, O. (2017). Self-distancing: Theory, research, and current directions. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 55, 81–136. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.aesp.2016.10.002
Lyon, D. (2018). The culture of surveillance: Watching as a way of life. Polity Press.
Marks, J. (1979). The search for the “Manchurian Candidate”: The CIA and mind control. Times Books.
Orwell, G. (1949). Nineteen eighty-four. Secker & Warburg.
Pennebaker, J. W., & Smyth, J. M. (2016). Opening up by writing it down: How expressive writing improves health and eases emotional pain (3rd ed.). Guilford Press.
