As I was lying in bed last night, doing a sudoku puzzle, I was struck by the fact that my “sudokuing” is strictly old media. I just can’t get the hang of it in its digital incarnations. I have my particular method – I use a propelling pencil with which I like to chicken scratch little numbers in the squares and on the edges and then there’s the random doodling. I can’t figure out a way to do random doodling on my Ipad– and those doodles are a critical part of the problem solving process!
So I thought I would create a list of what I do in old vs new media.
1. To do lists: Old Media. I like to write them in thick black pen, pin them up and check them off when they are done. I have tried a million times to use the to do lists on Outlook and on my Iphone,and various other places, but it just doesn’t work for me. I need the constant visual reminder. Having said that- if there is something that is time-bound that I need to remember- for examples to turn of the air conditioning before I leave the building- I ask Siri to remind me. She’s really good at that.
2. Reading – Books. Here I am still mixed. I have a backlog of actual real books in the house from many years of being a reader- so I still pick them up to read. I am part of a book club with a bunch of women who are all REALLY avid readers and mostly they read the analog versions, so for book club books I follow their lead. However for almost everything else, I have digitized. I have the patience of a gnat- so being able to order and start reading my new book within seconds is obviously a big draw.
3. Reading- Newspapers and Magazines. Old Media. These are still ritual items for me. The newspaper gets read at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee (except for the local newspaper which is Friday evening on the couch). Magazines are read in front of the TV or in bed. I have The New York Times delivered to my I-pad and recently switched my Ad Age subscription to be digital– big mistake. I never look at either of these.
4. Email/ Social. Obviously these are all digital. I would say 90% on mobile. But if I have a lot of writing to do I still struggle with a smart phone, and my tablet gives me carpel tunnel, so I like to sit in front of my lap top if I have any significant thinking to do. I used to be a really good emailer on my Blackberry, but I just can’t bring myself to go back there. ( I haven’t heard many rave reviews about the new RIM platform, except that one government department was considering it…..not so rave)
5. Research & Writing. Mostly Digital. Meeting notes are still totally analog, somehow it seems rude to be tapping away at a computer while I am engaging in conversation (actually I am not sure I can do both) On the more long-form, continuous prose stuff ,VERY occasionally I find myself writing something out long-hand in a notebook. ( This really happened at least twice in the last year, and it surprised even me, but I really liked the actual writing with an actual pen in my real handwriting). Even more occasionally I find myself looking something up in a book in a library ( but that is mainly because they have stuff that I might have to pay hundreds of $ to read on line, and ever since the bed-bug scares in libraries, I am done with that!)
Slightly more frequently I will sketch out diagram or some kind of flow chart that I later draw out in Powerpoint ( Yes I love Powerpoint- but that is a subject for another day). Much more frequently, I confess I still print out files, so that I can make jottings on them, stack them neatly in a folder and get back to them quickly ( I am not a great “bookmarker”). Otherwise all of my researching and writing is strictly lap-top. Somehow “work” and “lap top” are linked. Smart-phone and tablet are for play.
5. Calendar. Mixed. This one is a tough one. I seem to have about 3 different systems which is not good. I use my Google calendar and then one on the kitchen wall- and for a while I had a paper one too. Obviously that was idiotic so now I just have two. Repeating weekly events are on the wall in the kitchen, and my own personal activities in my Google calendar. But it’s definitely far from perfect. What I really want is for my Google calendar to show up on my wall and to be able to write stuff on the wall and it show up in my Google calendar and vice versa. I am waiting for someone to invent it.
6. TV & Movies. New Media. I rarely watch live TV. Most of my viewing is on demand. I don’t even mind that some channels force me to watch the commercials so that I can get this convenience- but I do DVR the ones I REALLY care about. I also use the Showtime, HBO and PBS I-pad widgets so I can watch in bed. I am a subscriber to both Hulu and Netflix on my I-pad- and will watch both from time to time- either when I am working out on my bike or snuggled up in bed. I do however constrain my TV watching to the house. I am not one to catch up on missed shows on the train.
7. Kids books- Strictly old media. We have piles and piles and piles (and piles) of kids books. They are nurtured and loved and torn and chewed and I think here to stay. While there are lots of Ipad reading apps-it’s going to be a long time before these go the way of adult books I think.
8. Shopping- Mixed. It’s interesting to see which categories I have switched into digital and which ones remain in bricks and mortar. Groceries & toiletries I still go to the store, but almost all other I do on line. Shoes are Zappos ( You can’t beat their immediate shipping), all bits and bobs, toys, gadgets etc are Amazon ( I am an Amazon Prime member so it just doesn’t make sense to go anywhere else) , clothes are mixed though- jeans I always go to a store, but coats are always on line. Shirts are almost always in a store but sports gear digital. To date most of my shopping is lap top based, but I am slowly moving into apps- especially for my go-tos like Zappos or Amazon, that way I can get shopping done on the train. ( This kind of freaks me out though… how can I shop while on Metro North?surely this is spending money I don’t have)
Zappos.They get pretty much all my shoe business- so why not App it?
To see how I stack up against the rest of the world- click here for the lastest Nielsen report on how American’s are doing these tasks!
Nielsen Consumer Usage Report 2012
What do you do in old and new media? it’s an interesting exercise.
