Time management: planning through technology or with your pen

By Josie Roberts, Online Living Editor

Book vs. Kindle, hand-written vs. typed, paper or phone: everyday new apps are created, technologies invented and lives made “easier” and with that comes a choice. Ease, speed and accessibility are what companies think draw us in. However, what do we prefer?

University is a world where you are thrust into low contact hours, more free time, and high workloads. You want to socialise, join societies, make new friends, go out, have a job and still get at least a 2.1 in your degree. University demands us to plan our time effectively. In this article I am going to look at whether it is easier to do this online or offline.

Epigram / Josie Roberts

Through Technology?

Having a smart phone in your pocket or on you constantly means that planning your time via calendar apps is quick, easy and accessible. You don’t have to flick through weeks in your diary, or laboriously write out your week. Emails can be connected which means for some things you don’t even have to add them yourself! You can also put locations of where you need to be and you will get a reminder. For those that drive some calendars tell you exactly when to leave in relation to the traffic.

Whilst all these perks seem technologically cool and easy, I think that it makes you ironically less organised. When I solely relied on my phone calendar my entire university timetable, events that had been confirmed via email, train tickets I had bought months ago and even gym classes had been uploaded onto the calendar. This meant I forgot about things as I was not physically responsible for my calendar anymore. I relied too heavily on the technology to do its thing and individual planning went out the window.

Epigram / Josie Roberts

With your pen?

Being an English student I somewhat stereotypically love to hand-write my notes, reject the Kindle, and have a physical diary. I find joy in every year going to the shops and picking out the perfect diary. Because there are so many brands you can find a layout that is just right for you and have a book that suits your taste. It is something physical and precious that at the end of the year I keep (hoarder alert) and like to look back on occasionally as memories.

Physically writing out your week and adding in events also means that I remember and feel more on top of my life. Having it constantly open on my desk in my room, I always know what’s happening and when, I have to-do lists along the side and can see the entire month in front of me. Obviously you can do that all with calendar apps on your phone, however there is something satisfying about it being in your own hand. You have the control.

Epigram / Josie Roberts

Whilst I may seem to be one, I am not a luddite. I love technology and for years have been using phone calendars to manage my time. However, I will always love physically having a diary in front of me. It makes plans concrete, it makes me remember, and it is so much prettier than the screens we are constantly glued to!

Featured image: Epigram / Josie Roberts