Good and Geeky Tech solutions are the way forward

Pen and paper, are you joking?

There is more than one way to skin a goat and you don't have to use only use techie solutions when you are writing. It is kind of mad to take the luddite view and to avoid using a smart phone and computers these days. I had two anti technology women standing next to me when I suggested that one should get themselves a decent phone. They were quick to point out that a pen and paper would be better because you don't have the problem of the batteries dying on you. You also, it seems are more likely to loose an expensive mobile device, and what then? These arguments just don't hold water as there are so many more advantages to having technological solutions available. Lets get Good and Geeky with tech.

So many advantages to using tech creatively

If you lose your paper note book or drop it in a puddle, that's it, the work is gone. You have no automatic backup as you would have when using your iPhone or Android. I love it that whatever I write is immediately saved to the cloud. I need the non linear way I can create on my iPad by using a mind map. It is quicker than pens and paper by a long way. It's great to have text that I can read and make sense of later instead of my awful handwriting. Being able to decide to record my thoughts as audio so that I can transcribe later is a positive boon. I even have software that will automatically turn my speech into text. Try doing that with pen and paper. If I choose I can use a swiping method of typing, which also is far faster to crank the words out. If you write your stuff on paper, you are still going to have to type it out later. Unless you are rich and you can get some minions to do the job for you. I really don't see any advantages at all in using analogue writing methods. The only thing is the nostalgic feeling you get from the sensory aspect of holding a pen in your hand. That is not something that is going to influence your productivity except to slow you down. There is nothing stopping you from resorting to the old ways if you have to, but only for a quick note when your tech is not directly to hand. Then the thing to do is to use your device to snap a picture of your handwritten note to make sure your ideas are not lost. The camera is also there to shoot a video or capture an image to help you tell your story.

No need to be scared of it

I could be preaching to the converted here, but there are still some odd people out there who are scared of tech. They get distressed when it doesn't work quite as they expected. Instead of working it out and learning what to do, they just use it as an excuse to keep the blinkers on. I love it when something has had to be worked out and there is the joy of finding the solution. I know that the next time I will do that thing quicker.

Lose the negative mind set

When it comes down to it, it is a choice or a negative mind set that keeps people in the luddite camp. It's a delight for me to witness my seventy five year old mother learning new things on her iPad. It's only disappointing when younger people get weirdly negative and look for excuses to not use the latest mobile devices. It is great to hear my mom chuckle or even giggle when she gets her iPad to do something new. Technology is fun and TechnoGran knows it.