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Overload Alert: Apps

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Daily writing prompt: Overload alert. “Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense.” — Gertrude Stein. Do you agree?

Common sense? What about sanity?

I arrived at work a bit late after traffic backed up on the M1 for no reason whatsoever. I had already been through overnight emails before getting on the road, along with traffic reports on Twitter.

Despite that 400 emails greeted me when I got to work. Many were newsletters which I moved to the “Newsletters” folder, unread. I know that I will not be reading them anytime soon. So why subscribe you ask?  Because I’m afraid of missing out. Makes sense right? Not!

Then I opened those emails addressed exclusively to me. Any email that I am copied in on is dealt with last, if at all. So if you want my attention you know what to do.

Then the 30 minute meetings started, much like 5 minute noodles – quick and not all together filling. Why do I have them, you ask? Because it’s better to start the conversation rather than lose the moment if scheduled for 3 weeks hence.

My iPad is a lifesaver, it goes with me wherever I go. It’s a true productivity maximiser in my personal and professional life.

I try out lots of apps, and these are the ones which contribute to common sense and sanity in my life:

  1. Shop Shop for iPhone – as I remember I add items to the lists I have created, from Groceries to Christmas presents.
  2. WordPress for responding to comments on the go.
  3. Kindle for reading and keeping reference material.
  4. iThoughts HD mind mapping keeps things nice and visual.
  5. Trello for organising work and collaborating with colleagues.
  6. My banking app which is simply awesome; everything in one place.

I use the native email, calendar and notes apps which synchronise nicely with my work stuff.

Which apps and or techniques help you keep your sanity and common sense?

(Featured image courtesy of Graphic Stock)

Technology

IPad meetings and the like

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Yesterday I broke the tea pot. Then I dropped a heavy pyrex dish which bounced on my arm en route to the floor (I was on the floor at the time, don’t ask!). The dish bounced on the floor, and being pyrex, I thought it would survive. Well, it didn’t! And my arm now has a black and blue bruise to prove it. A few hours later I burned the toasts (it happens often).  And also the veggie burgers under the grill. My husband blames the iPad…

I did manage to wash the dishes and wipe the surfaces safely though! And pack the dishes into the cupboards. I think I just get distracted. I fully intend to make toasts but get side-tracked with something else – my email, or BBM, or something. I totally forget about what I started in the kitchen until the smell of burnt stuff wafts into the lounge.  And no one is more surprised than me. I mean, it was just a few minutes ago that I set the toasts going wasn’t it?

So it is not the iPads’s fault. Or the Blackberry.  I can totally get why people get sucked into the virtuality of the web to the exclusion of all else. It’s so easy.

I have a colleague, a good friend, that when we meet for coffee at work, it is with our iPads. I call it an iPad meeting. We sit, and inbetween sips of our cappuccinos, heads buried in our respective iPads, compare the apps we’ve recently bought, check mail and see photos. In all honesty, we actually do get a lot done. And we also catch up on work.

Yesterday morning my husband and I sat in the lounge with our morning coffee and muffins (home-made), in companionable silence, each with our separate devices.  Once in a while we would share something we’d just read, chat about it, and go back to our devices. Before we knew it a few hours had passed, and I can think of worse ways to pass a Sunday morning.

Let me be honest – I would much rather be blogging, or on facebook or chatting with friends on BBM, than making toasts.The world has changed – people now meet their spouses online. Each and every person’s global reach has expanded with the wonderful technology we have, definitely making the world a smaller place. I love it. We are living in exciting times, and instead of resisting, let us just go with the flow and enjoy the ride.

Off course, it does mean that there will be a lot more burnt toasts in this household.