That went totally unnoticed — even by me — but a few days ago was the 4th month anniversary of my switching back to a paper agenda, in April.
Here is an update on the analog agenda situation.
- Do I still use a paper agenda? Yes.
- Was there any issue? None as far managing appointments were concerned.
I had to change the agenda itself recently, though. The first one was a tad too… tall and that few extra millimeters were a constant issue to keep it in my pocket. I replaced with a shorter model. It’s that simple. Can this be considered a rookie mistake? - Do I miss Notifications? Lol. No.
My calendar is either in my bag or in my pocket, so I make it a habit to check it every single morning. And I can always look at it at any time. - Do I miss Syncing? No. I don’t need syncing.
- Do I worry I could lose this agenda and all its content? Yes.
That’s the real one downside: there are no backups. Not that the Cloud should be considered a backup either: the moment the data is screwed uo or deleted or whatever on the cloud it’s screwed up on all our other devices too. - Any reaction from people seeing me use such a low-tech tool? Yes and no. A few people knowing me were surprised at first, like they were surprised to seeing me reading printed books instead of the ebooks I had been reading for so many years. People meeting me for the first time were sometimes surprised, a few asked me questions about it, but the majority simply do not care.
Will I switch back to a digital agenda? I can’t foresee the future — maybe one day it will be considered a crime against the law to use those analog & privacy-respecting tools? — but what I can say is that in the last four months I have seen no reason, not a single one, to switch back to a digital agenda. So, yeah I will keep using that cheap and low-tech paper agenda for the time being.
I can also say that I much prefer using it to using what I consider a cluterred interface in Apple’s Calendar, and I much prefer using a pen on paper to trying to read always too thin and too small fonts on a mirror-like glossy screen while at the same time using its cramped keyboard. Sure, one just needs to enlarge the font size in the Settings (or even use teh Accessibility settings) to make the text more readable, I know that. Just wait until you’re aged 50+, with a not great eyesight anymore, then we will discuss the very limited options Apple has given us in terms of font choice… Meanwhile, I will happily write as large as I fancy in my paper agenda while its maker will have absolutely nothing to say about that — how it should always have been.
Disclaimer: I’m not trying to say an analog agenda is better than a digital one in any way, and that you are wrong if you don’t agree with me. I’m sharing my personal preference, which is that I much prefer using that analog agenda. You’re more than welcome to disagree.
Published: 2024/08/30