…A little too much?
New year’s here, and every year-end and new year is that time for looking back at old stuff and planning for what’s coming next.
I have no idea how the other half of the world manages their information. Like, do they even write down things that happen in their daily lives? And if they do, where do they write it? In a paper notebook? Or on their phone?
And what about planning ahead or scheduling appointments? Where do they keep that? In a paper calendar? Or as reminders on their phone?
As for me, I record both past events and stories from my daily life, as well as all my future plans and reminders, entirely on my phone. And I only just realized I’ve been doing this for years… without even meaning to.
I guess it started because I’ve got so much going on every day, and my brain just isn’t capable of remembering it all. Past or future, doesn’t matter.
So I started using Google Calendar and Google Keep to manage all the stuff in my life. (Obviously, the two main reasons are: 1. They’re free, and 2. Google will probably be around for a long time. Or to put it simply, they’re not gonna go bust anytime soon, which means I won’t have to migrate all my data later because the service shut down. 😂)
When I first started, I only planned to use them occasionally or just as a backup for stuff I might forget. But the longer I used them, the more I relied on them. I used to at least try to remember things myself, like what I did, where, when, or what appointments I had coming up. But lately? I don’t even bother anymore. I’ve handed over all the remembering and reminding to Google Calendar and Keep entirely.
And now… everything in my life is in there!!
For Google Calendar, I use it for all my advance reminders. Whether it’s jotting down and setting reminders for important appointments, water bills, electricity bills, internet bills, expenses due every month, every three months, every six months, or every year, all the way to all sorts of other random notes.
Like: the first day I opened a new tube of face wash, the first day I started a new jar of face cream, the first day I started a new tube of toothpaste. (So I know how long these things last and when I need to buy more in advance.) Vaccination dates for myself and family members, and when the next shot is due, whether that’s five years from now or even ten years from now… it’s all in there.
Sometimes even face mask days, laundry days, pillowcase washing days, when family members take their vitamins, etc. I still have to set reminders for all of it. Every single activity of mine involves writing, writing, writing, reminding, reminding, and more reminding all the time.
And some of these reminders are set to repeat forever with no end date. Meaning, as long as Google doesn’t go bankrupt and I’m still alive, they’ll just keep reminding me like that forever…
And that’s how someone like me, who lives life with absolutely zero structure, has a not-so-great memory, and sometimes walks around in a complete daze… has somehow managed to survive until today, I have no idea how, without my life falling apart, never missing any appointments, and never missing any bill payments. Go figure.
So, how did Google Keep happen?
It started with me jotting down random little unimportant things all over Keep. Just quick notes, figured I’d delete them later. Thought I’d just use it temporarily, write stuff down and delete as I go, that kind of thing.
But after using it for a while, I realized it was actually really easy and convenient. No fuss, no hassle. (I mean, it’s clean, minimal, easy on the eyes, no cluttered functions or options that make you dizzy just looking at them, or so exhausted you give up before you even start writing.) User-friendly interface. You can add unlimited photos (I heard they don’t even count toward your Google storage? If I’m not wrong?). It saves instantly the moment you type without hitting save. When you open it from another device, it syncs automatically. You can organize with tags, which means you can arrange everything however you want. Plus the search function is even better than Google Calendar. So I started using Google Keep more and more for all my notes, short and long.
Since then, it’s slowly turned into a semi-diary. Like, what important things happened today. For example: the AC technician came to clean the unit, how long it took, what time to what time, how much it cost, what the technician’s name was, what account number to transfer money to, what their phone number was. Or notes about when I bought this appliance or that electronic device, where I bought it, how much it cost, how many days until it broke, where I took it to get fixed when it broke, when, how much the repair cost, etc.
So now everything in my life has a recorded history. It’s all trackable.
Looking on the bright side… well, it’s pretty good, right? I don’t have to worry about forgetting anything. Don’t have to worry about not remembering something. If I want to know any information, I just open Calendar or Keep, type in a keyword, and boom, I know when that thing happened, what it was, how it went.
But then one fine day it hit me… what if my account gets hacked? Or what if I can’t log into this account ever again?
…… Just the thought of it is a total nightmare. 🥶
I can’t even imagine where I’d start if that actually happened. Because everything I can(not) remember (which is like 99.9999% of my life) is in there. If it disappears, there’s no backup in my brain or anywhere else. Where would I even go to find all that again?
Now I’m curious again: how do other people handle all these little mundane things?
Because some people I know do write things down, loosely, and for the rest they just hope and pray that when they need to use certain information, their brain will still be able to pull it up.
Some people don’t write anything at all because their memory is amazingly good. Ask them when they bought something and how much it cost, and they can answer immediately, even if it was 7-8 years ago or longer. 😮 Now that’s something to be jealous of.
As for me, right here, right now, I’ll keep writing. And keep waiting for my daily reminders.
But lately I feel like I’m getting more and more forgetful. When I think of something I need to do or something I need to set a reminder for, I have to grab my phone immediately to write it down before I forget. But in that split second while I’m reaching for my phone and unlocking the screen, I’ve already forgotten what I was going to write…? 🥴
Then I have to waste time walking around in circles trying to dig up that memory. Sometimes five minutes pass and I still can’t find it. Sometimes it takes a good ten minutes before I finally remember, and then I have to rush to grab my phone and write it down fast before I forget again.
I think in the future there might be some new innovation that lets humans have something to help them write, remember, and remind in real-time. Without having to reach for a phone, unlock it, open an app, and then finally write something. Like… the moment you think of something, you just say it out loud, and the app writes it down for you automatically.
But then again, maybe we won’t have to wait that long. Because I’ve heard that many people have already experienced this kind of innovation. Some people just say something out loud, or just think to themselves ‘I really want a new fridge’, and the moment they pick up their phone and scroll their feed, boom, refrigerator ads start flooding in out of nowhere.
I’m pretty sure you’ve experienced this too, haven’t you?