With one glance, the entire family knows what is happening each month…

Age wise, I’m still “fairly” young, computer technology was introduced to me as I entered grade 10 and I would like to believe that I’m technology smart, but definitely not savvy, unlike my teenage son who loves to remind me of this on a regular basis. This was only emphasized when we decided to purchase the latest and greatest smartphone. Originally, it was to be my new phone because he would have my old phone as a “hand-me-down”, well he had to have some type of punishment for losing his phone in Vegas (another post altogether). As we looked around I became dizzy with the selection, the more we looked, the more my son salivated, and the more I began to like my little old phone. Within no time, I was purchasing my teenager a new phone; suddenly I didn’t feel the urge to purchase a new one for myself.  As we finished the paperwork, my son had already customized his phone and was downloading various apps one after the other. At this point the salesman decided to blurt out, “I love selling phones to the younger crowd, I never have to explain anything to them, they just understand it compared to the “older” people…” – excuse me, but just because I couldn’t find the on button does not slot me into the “older” category – or does it? 

Personally, I still like to use my paper day timer and calendar versus my phone – I may be the only one left out of my friends and family to do so, but hey, I like to be the black sheep in the group.  Everyone has their pros and cons for liking either or and I would just like to highlight a few…

Paper:

• Never requires a computer update, only a quick trip to the store at the beginning of each calendar year.
• The home calendar is centrally located for everyone to use, with a single glance everyone in the family can see the activities for the month.
• As one person put it…”the eye is still faster than electronics and to me, it’s easier (and much faster) to glance over 3 feet to the left of my computer monitor to check Sunday’s date than it is to open Outlook, click to the calendar and click to the month view.”
• It never runs out of batteries.
• However, if lost, there is no backup…

Digital:

• Digital reminders.
• Can perform hundreds of tasks with the push of a few buttons.
• Lightweight and easy to carry.
• Can backup data when synced to another computer.
• However, I wouldn’t want to drop it…

Notice that I purposely elaborated the paper pros versus the digital. Ultimately, what works for you is what matters; just be prepared to defend your beliefs when people come around giggling at your expense; trust me, I hear it from my friends and family all the time…but that’s okay, I know they love me, even if I still carry around a flip phone…

Categories: Opinions

Tags: Calendar, computers, day timers, family, lifestyle, Opinions, organization, phones, postaday, technology