why I'm still on paper

[calimac]

A lot of people today run their lives off of Blackberries or iphones or other devices which are supposed to be spelled with a capital letter in the middle. I don't, and an article comparing the iphone with Google's competing Nexus shows why.

The article uses as an example the appointment calendar function, and illustrates this with side-by-side photos of the two devices' month view. Here they are:

The Nexus is on the left, the iphone on the right. The writer's point is that Nexus more easily shows how much of each day is booked, while the iphone has more convenient navigation buttons. But with both of them, you have to navigate off the month view to see your appointments.

Then, also, you have to stuff your brain with all the commands, which are never intuitive to me, and which will all be totally different when you replace the device, even if you get one from the same company. I have enough trouble with my cellphone and my desk computer in that regard; I don't need another one.

For my entire adult life, every fall I've wandered down to a stationery store - since I moved here out of grad school, it's always been the same store which I know always carries them and has them in stock - to buy a pocket-sized spiral-bound "month at-a-glance" calendar made by this company. Here's a small sample view of a page from something similar to the one I get:

The actual two-page spread is 6.5 x 7 inches, and each day's box is about one inch square.

I don't normally lead a life of heavy appointments, and when I've had one at work, a page-a-day desk calendar has been sufficient to keep track of that. This is for my personal appointments, and since one inch square a day is enough to keep track of them, what I most want is the ability to view them all over a month period, and to be able to freehand scribble as much or as little info as I need about them, up to what will fill the box. And write smaller or spill over when that's necessary. A green bar or a little dot doesn't tell me what my appointments are without dropping down to a closer view. This does, and it has worked exactly the same way for decades, even centuries, and that's why I'm keeping it.

It also has an address book section (I keep my address file on my computer, update it each year with the hand-written corrections from the previous year's book, print it out, and paste it in), and an inside cover pocket which is useful for keeping coupons, bookstore trade slips, stamps, reminder lists, etc. So it's all in one, and all I have to do is remember where I put it and to check my schedule in it, problems I'd have with an electronic one as well. I have all my old ones dating back to the dawn of time, and they're occasionally useful too, like for when I wanted to make a list of everything our book discussion group had ever read.

But what I most like is that I have a whole month at a glance. I like wide views and context, which is one reason I'm not totally enamored of reading on an iphone or even a larger device like a Kindle. I need to be able to see more text at once to keep track of where I am. (Trying an iphone convinced me it would be OK for very light reading, or for re-reading books I already know, as an agreeable way to pass the time.) This is also one reason I'm not giving up paper maps for electronic ones. The large-area views don't have enough detail, and the small-area views don't cover enough area.

The devices, in short, are too small, and anything large enough is too large, and too heavy, to conveniently carry around all the time. Until they make a computer that's as lightweight as paper and that folds up like paper, and no, an implant would not be a good substitute, I'll keep using my paper devices so long as I can get them.

Comments

[sturgeonslawyer.livejournal.com]

You luddite you. ;)

Seriously, I find electronic devices to keep track of my time don't actually work much better than paper ones. The main advantage for me is that, combined with my phone, it's one less thing to carry - though also one larger loss if I misplace it.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

I actually stick with a traditional Day-Timer, as I find it easier to track my time as an engineer than with electronic gadgets. I generally do my appointments in Microsoft Outlook, though, because it's easier to stay coordinated with my co-workers who need to know when I'm available.

[mithriltabby]

One handy thing about Android is that the user interface stays consistent when changing devices, so there was no annoyance when shifting from my G1 to my Nexus One. It also has a view that lets you see your appointments for just the week, so you don’t have to navigate off the month view; the week view on Android shows a few words of each appointment, which is usually enough to remind me what they’re about.

A couple of things that I find immensely valuable are the ability of the calendar to beep at me to remind me of things that I would otherwise forget to do, and the ability to share calendars with other people. For instance, obsessivewoman shares her calendar with me, so I can see when she has appointments and set alarms to remind me to go pick her up and take her to them (since her medical conditions currently preclude her driving). We also have a common calendar for household chores.

Online maps are handy when they can provide turn-by-turn directions, but I still keep a Thomas Guide under the seat in my car. I would prefer not to wind up in the situation of being lost while also being out of range of cell towers.

[scribblerworks.livejournal.com]

I'm not quite as device resistant as you, but I'm also not a total techno-dependant as some of my friends.

I use a combined system. I continue to use my Zire (Palm PDA) for my "carry around" calendar/datebook. It's easy to carry and has a basically unlimited calendar, so I can make note of events a year in advance. And the memory still has all the old stuff. It also has most of my address contacts on it.

My full address book I keep on my computer, and I too do a print out once a year (for my Christmas cards). Any address changes get made on that hard copy, which I then update on the Zire and computer (syncing).

But I also keep hard copy calendars. I write in events and appointments on a monthly calendar which I keep on my desk. I also have a second hard copy appointment calendar (this year it is the New Yorker cartoon one), which is used less as tracking future events and more as a record of daily activity. Yes, I note the meetings I have schedules. But I also use it as a log for what I've been reading, and also logging what I've been working on.

[irontongue.livejournal.com]

I used exactly the same Day-at-a-Time calendar for many years, then switched to an assortment of week-at-a-time paper calendars, which lasted....I can't remember how long. Sometime in the 90s? 2000s? I can't tell.

That's because I can't figure out how long I've been using Google Calendar, which has the great advantage that Donna and I can view each other's appointments overlaid, in different colors, on the same Calendar page.

I don't know if you've tried out the iPhone or Android calendar programs. They're not nearly as annoying to use as you might think. The screen shot above is showing the stand-alone Android calendar app; it looks different if you view it in the Android browser. (I use both because I have my work and personal accounts separate and view the personal accounts in the browser.)

It is true that I do most of the data entry on a desktop computer. If you don't have a Google account.....well, to use an Android phone, it makes the most sense to use Gmail and other Google services.

[19-crows.livejournal.com]

Whatever tool works for you.

I use calendars on my Palm and my work computer, but use the Palm one on the computer desk top most of the time.

I still use paper wall calendars, a monthly one at home and a year one at work. That's because I have trouble with how much time is pending till something - "next month" feels far away, even if today is the 28th. I need to see that the first is next week, or whatever.

I don't have a cell phone because I don't need or want one, but on a recent trip our friend used his iPhone to find a gas station and directions to it. I still don't need the phone part but having a device to access the internet is starting to seem useful. I'm not convinced enough to actually spend money on it, though.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

B. and I don't need to exchange as much schedule information as many other couples do, and we use a kitchen wall calendar for that. So we don't need the kind of device that, say, Lisa and Donna have, though we might use it if we did.

I got a cell phone, however, after the occasion when I wanted to call home to let B. know that I was stuck in traffic and would be late. It took half an hour to get off the freeway and more than another half to find that rapidly vanishing commodity, a pay phone. The cell has been useful in other circumstances, such as the period I was rushing around from place to place in search of a new rental home. Otherwise, though, it's mostly a backup.

[19-crows.livejournal.com]

See, that's not reason enough for me. I'd just show up and hour late, and I don't mind if Pat does the same. I expect that there will be times when things are messed up and most of the time it doesn't matter.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

That would not do for us. Our dinner plans are dependent on each other, and neither of us would consider it fair to sit around for an hour wondering if the other one is going to show up or if we should go ahead and eat without them.

[19-crows.livejournal.com]

I guess sitting around for an hour wondering if the other is going to show up isn't a big deal for us.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

I know others who share your perspective. There's a lot of variety in how humans approach living their lives, a lot more variety than many suspect.