Health & Fitness
The Benefits of Having A Digital Calendar
If you still use a paper calendar instead of a digital calendar you are missing out. There are quite a few ways that having a digital calendar especially in today’s world where more and more people have smartphones is better than a paper calendar.
For me perhaps the biggest one is being able to share my calendar with my wife and vice-versa. She can see my schedule at a glance and I can see hers. If I need to schedule something I can look at my wife’s calendar to see if there is a conflict. I don’t have to tell someone that I need to check if my wife planned something since I can already see her schedule. I also allow my son who lives with us to see whether or not I have an appointment without him seeing the details of it.
I also can refer to past events quickly wherever I am. Most people do not keep paper calendars for years unless they have to for business reasons and/or tax purposes. They may have to search to remember where they put their paper calendar. Further if a paper calendar is lost then what? I may miss a scheduled appointment or have to call and reconfirm an appointment that I wasn’t sure of. With a digital calendar I can go to a computer, smartphone, etc. With a digital calendar you can go back years unless you erase an event after it occurs. I do not recommend that you do this and I do not erase events after they occur. A digital calendar hardly takes up space on a smartphone, iPad, etc. and you can access it offline as well. This is great for when travelling. If I am in a foreign country, I do not have to worry about incurring roaming charges for accessing it. I also do not have to worry about being somewhere without internet access. While I do not have events that go back that far, my Google Calendar allows me to go back to 1980 to see dates on my digital calendar. A paper calendar does not give me anywhere near this flexibility.
If I have an event that occurs the same time on a weekly, monthly, or yearly basis I only need to enter it once and provide the recurring information. It is automatically added for the recurring dates. If I need to reschedule or cancel a date, I can do it for just that date. The recurring pattern is maintained for the other dates. Talk about a timesaver. Further if I need to change of cancel an appointment on a paper calendar a pencil can erase it but what if you only have a pen? Cross it out and if changed reenter it. It can get sloppy either way. With a digital calendar you can delete or move it as needed. You also have a limited amount of space to write information on a paper calendar. On my Google Calendar I have never gotten to the limit but I know there is a much higher limit. I can add website links if need be. I also can attach a file that I need the same way I can attach a file to an email message.
With a digital calendar, I can change my view whenever I need to. My default is daily but I can instantly change to a weekly, monthly or custom view. If I have a “week at a glance” or “month at a glance” calendar I am stuck with that view.
Now this is not a generational thing. My sons who are 19 & 21 both use a paper calendar. My wife and I use our digital calendar which is Google Calendar.
Yes there are advantages to using a paper calendar. Should there be a syncing problem between devices you could forget an appointment or if there is a power failure you could have issues accessing it but the advantages of a digital calendar greatly outweigh the disadvantages.
So do you use a paper calendar or a digital calendar? If you currently use a paper calendar will you at least consider trying a digital calendar such as Google Calendar?
If you want to know more about how you can digitalize your calendar I am available for that and to help you better use your technology. I can be contacted at (917) 572-3468 or email me at mike@computerconciergeny.com .
Feel free to join the conversation and post comments and questions on my Facebook page at Computer Concierge NY LLC . There also are tips there to better use your computer, smartphone, iPad and other technology you may have or are thinking of buying.