Lately I've been going through a lot of the tools available online to make life easier. Stuff like simulscribe for voicemails (it uses voice recognition to transcribe and email and/or SMS you the message); iwantsandy for scheduling; jott for I'm not sure what; twitter; tumblr; asksunday; it goes on and on.
All of these could be very useful tools for managing my life. However the learning curve required to use each is a bit prohibitive. I have dozens of phone numbers and email addresses to remember; multiple service fees to pay every month.
It gets a bit overwhelming. These tools are supposed to make life more manageable but they end up making it less. I'm trying to think of a way to roll these all together and make it actually useful. A common site would be nice but how do you get around the different protocols, formats, and learning curve for each? By the time I have Sandy transcribe an appointment, have ask sunday reschedule it for me, jott a note to myself and then get reminded it probably ends up being quicker to just write it on a piece of paper in my pocket and then look at it.
How do we make these digital tools more useful, and not overwhelming? At the moment I am very overwhelmed as I signed up for a few new services today: iwantsandy, jott, socialtext. I'm juggling dozens of emails from each and trying to figure out how to use them and if they will even be useful. Faxing is more efficient than using all of these things. Or a whiteboard (if geography wasn't a limiting factor).
How do we use these tools as tools, rather than having them consume more time than they save?
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