Continuing the theme I began last week, I offer the last of my resolutions for 2009.
Resolution 6- Technology as a Tool, not a Toy.
My best friend is my iPod Touch. When we are together, we find so much to share and so many fun things to do. It’s remarkable how she always seems to be there to help me forget what I was doing, reminding me that I would much rather be playing Spiderette or Penguin Lite than attacking the long-overdue items on my Remember The Milk to-do list.
I have a similar issue with my laptop. Here it becomes a bit of an issue, since my laptop is not only a tool for work but it is also the only entertainment I have. When I sit down to work, I am ostensibly sitting down at my TV, phone, and computer all at once. It’s very easy to say “I can just listen to a few podcasts while I work” which morphs into “I wonder what’s in my Hulu queue” and finally becomes “screw it, it’s too late for me to be working anyway!” My multitasking has now become a barrier to the completion of even the simplest task, and so I must resolve to limit my iPod Touch “playtime” to 30 minutes and my video entertainment time to 2.5 hours each day. That sounds like so much when you say it out loud, but it would be an incredible savings of time if I could do it. I could spend 30 minutes after work and still catch a couple of episodes of online TV before bed.
Resolution 7- Upgrades are not Manifest Destiny.
I am renowned for having a short attention span. My entire school career is littered with terrific first semester performance sullied by near inactivity in the second semester. Someone holds up a shiny object, a new activity, or something that offers a bigger challenge than finishing the last vestiges of a report and I am the guy who will run. If you want a long-term project handled, I am not your guy. If you need someone to keep 8 balls in the air without losing his composure, call me. I can make 15 decisions in 10 seconds, but cannot complete the last task on any to-do list.
This love of shiny things makes computer and equipment upgrades very attractive to me. “Ooo! A new mic would make my podcasts sound slightly better!” “Version 19.2.7 has to be better than 19.2.6!” I spend far too much time, energy, and money on incremental upgrades in my life. I don’t need the next big Social Media site. I don’t need a new mixer. I need to do what I can with what I have. When someone starts writing checks for it, THEN I will upgrade. So I resolve only to upgrade equipment and sofware when it is necessary for a paying job OR to maintain security and functionality of my current setup. To prove how true this is, as I write I am running FORMAT C: on my Toshiba laptop, trying to recover it from the debacle of installing XP on it. It’s built only for Vista, and trying to ‘fix’ by installing XP has completely ruined it. It’s a very expensive mistake caused by my endless quest for more more MORE performance.
If you liked these, you’ll like my resolutions for Family and Faith.
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January 15th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
I hear you on the iPod touch. It is a most enjoyable companion.
Depending on how long you’ve owned it, it will likely get easier. I found that during “second semester” it was easier to focus ipod use to more productive apps.
January 23rd, 2009 at 12:35 pm
Earlier in the week my wife accidentally dropped her iPod Touch in the toilet. Four days later it’s still drying out and although it powers up, it’s not connecting properly with her computer.
She is absolutely dependent on that iPod for calendar, contacts, tasks.
A few months ago I sent my iPod Shuffle through the washer and drier. Now it’s just a colorful flash drive. It’s just not in our budget to replace any of these devices we love and use daily.
Word of caution to all. Protect and be mindful of those devices that you depend on. And make sure you have some sort of backup of all your data on those devices.