Who needs a PDA when I’ve got paper?

September 29 by | 40 comments | Lifehack, Productivity | Tags: , , , , ,

Some regular readers may know this answer straight from their head – but for any newcomers — Why do you want to move on from your electronic based PDA to a paper-based organizer? Should you give up the technology and use pen and paper to organize your life? For anyone who has doubts, over at Guardian Unlimited Network, I have written an introduction on why you want to use a paper-based organizer:

I remember a time when the personal digital assistant (PDA) was far from being a must-have item for the super-organised. People used to keep a small notepad or calendar in their pockets. Things were very simple. But as technology has advanced, more and more of us have moved to computer-based personal information managers, lured by the promise that once you move to a paperless way of organising things, your life can become easier – and much more organised…

What is your experience on both PDA and paper-based organizer (Hipster PDA)? Which one do you prefer?

Who needs a PDA when I’ve got paper? – [Guardian Unlimited]

  • http://www.jaxun.com jaxun

    One word: Pocketmod.

    Best. Free. Organizer. EVER!

  • http://office.weblogsinc.com Marc Orchant

    Actually, I use both. I have a Treo 650 which is invaluable for checking my calendar, sending SMS, looking up a contact (for a call, email, or just to share a number), reading an ebook or playing a quick and diverting game of Bejeweled. I use a Moleskine for note-taking and sketching. And I use a NoteTaker wallet to capture Next Actions that require some processing thought while out and about and simply tear off the new items and drop them in my Inbox when I get back to my desk. It’s not necessarily a binary choice.

    While I don’t use it personally, I do agree with jaxun that Pocketmod is a very cool life hack.

  • http://www.internetdiary.net Ray McGinty

    Forgive the blatant plug, but my company offers a solution for those frustrated by their PDA. Its an online diary, personal organiser and time management solution all in one. Admittedly you have to be able to connect to the internet to access it, but access is becoming more widespread every day.

    Anyone can have a free 30 day trial by going to http://www.internetdiary.net

  • larry

    [But PDAs sometimes disappoint too - think about when you have to learn to use the system, or the special form of writing needed to input information. Worse of all, remember the times when you forget to charge up the battery, you are not able to access it, or it loses all the data that has taken so long to enter. You may have bought it for a couple of hundred pounds - at least - and all you've purchased is a nightmare.]

    I have been disappointed when using PDAs and paper. Has your pen never run out of ink? Have you ever been unable to find your pen when you need it most? Has it never blobbed on your beautiful sheet of paper or leaked in your pocket? Has your paper ever torn or got wet making the writing illegible? Have you ever had a paper cut? I have but have never had a PDA cut. There is equal headache using a pen/paper based system as there is using an electronic solution. Nothing is perfect.

    I have been quite proficient at writing for many years but sometimes I can’t read my own writing. That never happens with a PDA. I can always read it’s output. There is little involved in learning to use most modern PDAs. If the electronic form of printing is too dificult to use or learn one can use the virtual or real keyboard that the vast majority of units provide.

    One rarely forgets to charge the cell phone battery so why should it be any more difficult or time consuming to charge the PDA once every few days or week?

    As far as losing date…the newer Palm products will not lose the data despite the fact that there is no battery power. In fact, one should always sync the unit for just that eventuality. But, let me ask you, “What happens when you lose your paper diary/organizer?” I would bet that few if any individuals go to the extent of backing up (photocopying) their paper information. It’s too time consuming and a photocopier is available to fewer individuals than is a computer to quickly and easily sync their PDA.

    What happens when you want to find that obscure reference from 5 years ago? I’ll bet that you will be able to find it with a PDA system. I’ll also bet you won’t be able to with a paper based system.

    It is only an individual who has not looked a both sides of the equation who would have the temerity to come up with the pronouncement, ” all you’ve purchased is a nightmare.”

    There is much to be said for both written and electronic forms of organization. I know as I’ve been using a combination for many years. Don’t let your prejudice blind you to the benefits.

    Larry

  • http://www.lifehack.org/ Leon

    @Marc: Indeed, I have similar setup. I have been testing and using Treo 650 for a month now – organizing all my SMS and contacts with it is great!

    @Larry: Great comments. I think you are a great analyzer. One thing that I want to add is that the editorial isn’t intended to be an analysis that can make up your decision on what you should be using – PDA, or paper-based – because these strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats etc.

    Instead it is an anecdotal style for introducing the paper based organizer for anyone who never thought they can be equally organized for their life by using a non-electrical based system. Just like Marc and you, I used system of both depends on situation (I am a geek after all! Who will never left out any gadgets!). Indeed, everything have advantages/disadvantages – but for a newspaper journal, one will have to take a side of preference and introduce on that side. ;)

    The last paragraph of the journal is the message and probably the same message that Marc pointed out – there aren’t any binary deicison on it – it is just the quest of finding the effective system that suit you.

  • larry

    Leon,

    I forgot to tell you how much I enjoy the website.

    Larry

  • http://fairshot.org paperwight

    I use both: PDA for keeping ongoing records of addresses, stuff to buy (long-term), running / repeating to-dos, calendar items, and paper for *today’s* to-do list and appointments. The paper gets re-written at the end of the day for the next day, so I don’t wake up at 2am because my subconscious has just remembers that I have to do something the next day.

    Notes typically go on whatever paper is handy, or for short notes, I use my cell phone’s memo function. Anything interesting gets transferred to the PDA later.

  • http://www.lifehack.org/ Leon

    Larry, thanks for your support! I am so glad this web site could help a lot of people.

  • http://ideamatt.blogspot.com/ Matthew Cornell

    I’m a technology person (research programmer), but I really love using paper to manage my life. I like the analog nature of it, and using something other than a keyboard to interact with the world.

  • Chris

    I am pretty sure the digitizer on my Tungsten|E has died. I loved it, bt now I’m thinking…@$200+ for another PDA or get my old Daytimer binder out, go to Staples and spend maybe $20 and go paper again.

    Yes, you can carry an enormous amount of stuff in a PDA. That is one of the beauties of it. I have 2 complete versions of the bible, documents, slideshows, mp3′s and on and on.

    But, on the other hand, I can drop a daytimer on a cement floor and it still works. I can drop it in a puddle and it will still work. Heck, I can put a bullet through it and most of the information is still accessable. (I’m in the military so its not that far fetched.)

    I’m torn. From a cost-benefit perspective, I’m thinking about going back to paper.

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  • Chris

    I’m a big gadget guy and love my Palm T3. However, I also love to carry 3×5 index cards for taking quick notes. If you meet someone with whom you want to exchange contact info with (and they don’t have a compatible PDA to beam your business card with ;o), you can simply tear a 3×5 in half and hand it to them for them to write their contact info on while you write your contact info on the other half.

    My wife got me a vinyl 3×5 index card holder at Wal-Mart last Christmas and it has been great. It’s tearing though and I want to replace it. I have looked at many places and can’t find the same one. If anyone knows where I can get something like this, please email me. I’ve seen leather ones for $45 but what I’m looking for is the $3 one that she gave me before. That way, if I lose it, I’m only out $3 and I can afford to replace it when it degrades.

    Thanks, Chris

  • Dorian

    I downgraded from a peice of notebook paper stuffed in my pocket to the $300 palm zire. It took about two hours for the batteries to give on any ordinary day. Luckily, when I would recharge it everything would be erased from its memory.
    But the real kicker, was one day when it ran down and I plugged it in to charge. Well, once the palm had sufficient power, it turned itself on to let me know that the power was low and it needed charging. Luckily, I had splurged and purchased a flip cover to protect the screen, so I did not see the fact the the screen was on all night, informing me that it needed to be charged while it charged. The screen burnt the most lovely color. Was this covered in warranty? No. I will never again own a palm device as long as I live. What an ignorant device, with an ignorant bios. Maybe one day macintosh will produce a handheld, then I will consider giving up my paper.

  • Garth

    I am about to buy a Palm TX. I use a Moleskine at the moment, and will probably carry on doing so.
    TX will have WiFi and all my email, contacts, work documents etc, while I will still carry a pocket notebook for those occasions when only paper will do, and transfer important stuff later.

  • http://lifehack Davidyon

    hi I nice tell

  • Steve L

    Oh boy. I’m finishing GTD and am wondering “what did I get myself into?” I stopped using my Palm a year ago after I got a Filofax as a gift. But I like the GTD stuff. Should I get a Pocket PC? Or continue with paper? Should I make the GTD sheets myself? Help!
    Thanks,
    Steve

  • http://www.shredderwarehouse.com paper shredders

    I used to think that way as well. Of course, there are advantages to using electrical organisation tools. They can be portable, convenient and efficient.

  • http://www.sony-conferencing.com Allen klein

    It’s not counterintuitive if you read the note at the bottom: “For documents in a safe-deposit box, it’s a good idea to keep copies at home as well.

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  • http://www.michelesmix.com Michele

    I am not the most technologically advanced person, but I love my Blackberry! I use only the phone and PDA function (no internet). It works so much better than paper for me, and I love the search function and ability to back up. I have read with great interest how so many technologically minded people like paper. I do use a little bit of paper though – the Blackberry is great for keeping track of a large number of tasks and future projects, but I find it not so useful in deciding what to work on today and right now. So, every morning I pick a short list of things to work on (it has to fit on an index card) and don’t check the lists on the Blackberry any more.

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  • Eddie

    PDAs, Smartphones are new technologies are dumbing-down.

    I started in design engineering and went into computing, and have always been very organised. I love to keep all my information organised into folders, and I give something a meaningful name when I save it. I’ve been doing this for 25 years, and can always, always find my stuff.

    I find that all the latest technology has changed from a taxonomy structure and folders, and these days everything goes in one place and they rely on “improved” (ha ha) search tools. I’m sure this is marketed at allowing totally unorganised people to be partially organised. But I hate it. It’s like having everything crammed in a pig trough and giving people a more sensitive snout to rummage through the dirt.

    I used to use a Psion, which was folder based and it was brilliant for an organised person to be super-organised. I switched to a Palm and hated it – totally dumbed-down, everything in one database. I bought an apple mac with Leopard OS, and that’s the same – doesn’t cater for folder organisation very well.

  • http://none John

    I went through this… But I finally found a smart phone called the nokia communicator. Just google nokia 9300. It has word, power point, folder based technology. It always synchs perfectly. I can get email on it, create a document send it as an attachment in email, chat on irc, and instant messengers. It has great calendar stuff built in that synch’s with my pc. It’s much quicker to thumb type something on this with the wide keyboard, than to write it with my palm pilot. My nokia 9300 is also a cell so i can get /send calls, receive faxes, and just point it at my infrared laser printer and print the fax right out, I can get tons of free software. even link it to an overhead lcd projector and do a slidshow from the phone. It’s a mini computer, it stays charged for days, it has a gorgeous synch cradle that comes with it. It has never lost any data at all, ever. It synchs perfectly every time. it was over $1,000 but you can find them on ebay now for $100. The new version now is the nokia e90. They run faster than palm pilots or windows cd devices (way faster). For me it’s a win/win situation. I had a daytimer jotter, but wound up buying expensive paper fillers, and on and on… it fell off my car and was not ‘password protected’ so the whole identity theft thing happened. Anyway. I should have been more careful. But when you put your life in a book, things are bound to happen if you loose it i guess.

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