I really like my iPad. I find it to be a great communication device. It's easy to carry. You don't need to even take it out of your bag to go through airport security. The email is great. The web browser is nice. It lets me play angry birds or update my calander or even take notes about a new story or idea no matter where I am. I can watch movies on a plane. I love reading books on the iPad. It's both a kindle and an iBook reader. I can enlarge the text, skip back and forth easily, look up the meaning of words.
But here's my dilemma. Lots of my reading time is during, to put it in World of Warcraft terms, during "bio breaks." I feel a little uncomfortable with taking a $499 "book" into the bathroom with me.
Any thoughts out there?
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Computers and why they don't allow us to relax more
Hi all:
I remember way back in college in the ‘70’s, reading how computers were going to give us so much more leisure time. There was talk that everybody would work 30 hour weeks by the early 2000’s. Well it's now 2011, and while computers have brought tons and tons of change, I don't see anybody actually doing less work. In fact, most people I know seem to be more overworked than ever. I'm interested in finding out why people think this is.
I have a few thoughts. One: computers make us all "experts" at everything. Back in the day, we'd rely on typists and secretaries to do typing, graphic people to design our graphics, and accountants to do the bookkeeping and number crunching. Now, thanks to the ease of word processors, graphics packages and spreadsheets, we can all do much of this ourselves. Our work, therefore, becomes much less specific.
Electronic communication is great. We can now talk instantly to associates and clients and find out what they need from us. On the one hand this is great; we know pretty much instantly what our clients and associates need us to do. On the other hand, this instant ability to be able to assign tasks, or to ask questions, means that, often, many tasks are put into our "queues" before we can finish them, or before the next task. It's easy to become overwhelmed.
Also, email, texting, blogging and Facebook give us instant gratification, and we tend to become addicted to this gratification, wanting more and more of it. Therefore, we spend more time seeking that instant gratification. This is time that could be spent working on a longer range project that would also give gratification, but not nearly as quickly.
I'm just spitballing here. As I say, I’m interested in what others think...
I remember way back in college in the ‘70’s, reading how computers were going to give us so much more leisure time. There was talk that everybody would work 30 hour weeks by the early 2000’s. Well it's now 2011, and while computers have brought tons and tons of change, I don't see anybody actually doing less work. In fact, most people I know seem to be more overworked than ever. I'm interested in finding out why people think this is.
I have a few thoughts. One: computers make us all "experts" at everything. Back in the day, we'd rely on typists and secretaries to do typing, graphic people to design our graphics, and accountants to do the bookkeeping and number crunching. Now, thanks to the ease of word processors, graphics packages and spreadsheets, we can all do much of this ourselves. Our work, therefore, becomes much less specific.
Electronic communication is great. We can now talk instantly to associates and clients and find out what they need from us. On the one hand this is great; we know pretty much instantly what our clients and associates need us to do. On the other hand, this instant ability to be able to assign tasks, or to ask questions, means that, often, many tasks are put into our "queues" before we can finish them, or before the next task. It's easy to become overwhelmed.
Also, email, texting, blogging and Facebook give us instant gratification, and we tend to become addicted to this gratification, wanting more and more of it. Therefore, we spend more time seeking that instant gratification. This is time that could be spent working on a longer range project that would also give gratification, but not nearly as quickly.
I'm just spitballing here. As I say, I’m interested in what others think...
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