Device Overload

 I enjoy trying new things. Some time ago I wrote about discovering Moleskine Daily Planners. Back in the early 2000s this was a surprising innovation. I didn't have need of a date book exactly. Instead I used the daily pages to keep my journal entries in chronological order. Undated journals get the same usage as the dated planner. The saving grace of the dated pages is that I don't forget to put the date on them. 

This has worked for me for over twenty years. I used Moleskine Daily Planners to jot down passwords as they changed. I wrote down contact information for people. I made lists. I wrote entries. I filled up book after book and prided myself on them. 

Then I realized what a massive vulnerability these journals were. I had the experience of someone snooping very thoroughly through my things. I began adding passwords to all of my devices. Then I realized those passwords weren't stopping the snooping. With dawning horror I realized that I had an entire shelf full of details of my life including addresses, phone numbers, and passwords. 

I knew boundary setting would do nothing. I knew I could not change my situation. I had to make a change. I thumbed quickly through years of my journals saving only a few scraps of information. The rest I burned to ash. I swore to myself that I would never regret this decision before I poured the lighter fluid over years of my handwritten memories, story ideas, and thoughts. I knew I was telling myself a lie. I knew I was being hasty. I also knew that I needed to do something. This was something. It was the wrong something. 

The year I purged my history of journals I was still writing in one. I couldn't stand the idea of wasting the rest of it. I did a little Sharpie redacting. I kept the book in my backpack and carried it with me constantly. I began to put my thoughts and into how I could continue to capture and organize my life as efficiently. 

Breaking a habit of years is hard. I had to get excited about a forum. OneNote was what eventually grabbed enough of my attention to make the transition start. It has amazing abilities built right in. Best of all it could travel with me from the cloud. I could use OneNote from my phone, computer, work computer, and all of my tablets. Best of all I could selectively password protect individual pages alleviating the concern that I might leave something unlocked that would prove to fuel even more invasions of my limited privacy. 

I am not a computer super user. I used to be. Once upon a time I used my computer to write, program, game, and several dozen other things. There was a time that the computer itself was a source of entertainment as I tinkered, exchanged components, and endlessly swapped out parts for upgrades. I watched that part of my life fade from a pursuit, to a hobby, and then to something completely pointless. Could I still build a computer from a stack of components? Sure. Is it the most useful way to spend my time, money, or effort? Absolutely not. Off the shelf devices are more than up to my usage needs. 

When I started going digital I was using a laptop that was several years old. It wasn't really up to my podcasting needs. I didn't upgrade with OneNote in mind. The podcast was what I wanted to do well. I needed something portable, but still robust in functionality. I wanted to be able to type on it for hours without feeling cramped up or frustrated. I needed to be able to edit, encode, and upload my shows. I chose a Microsoft Surface Pro 7. I got the maximum available hard drive and RAM. It worked extremely well. I didn't really need another device and for a while, other than video game systems, the Surface and my Kindle Fire were all I needed.

Now, let me address the need for a Kindle and a Surface Pro 7. When I bought the Surface I was planning on doing away with the Kindle Fire. I mean why have two tablets? (this question will become funny as the post continues) I pretty quickly tried to read myself to sleep with the Surface. There were a few issues. Smacking myself in the nose with the 7" Kindle sucks. Doing that with the 12" Surface is a new level of awful. I didn't quite get a nosebleed by my eyes were left watering and I was much more awake than I wanted to be. I didn't try to adjust. I just kept both devices and recognized their different uses. 

At this juncture I spent a lot of time and energy on my OneNote. Things got categorized and put into distinct pages.  I really wasn't journaling nearly as much as I had been. I also didn't use OneNote the same way I had my Moleskine which had been a constant aid to memory. If I found myself out somewhere and needing to take a note or capture something I just.... didn't. I knew I had lost a valuable practice. I wasn't going to use my phone to open OneNote or any other note taking app. 

I liked writing on the Surface both with the smart pen and using the keyboard. I drew a bit on the Surface and started trying to learn digital art.  The thing was just damned useful. When the podcast turned to filming video I didn't stop my investment at cameras, tripods, and power banks. I used the excuse of faster video editing to buy a gaming laptop. I knew that I would use it to also play video games and do all my other computing stuff. 

A laptop and two tablets made sense. The Surface would travel because it was lightweight and durable. The laptop would stay locked up at home until I was ready to play a game or edit content. I would obviously still read on the Kindle. This worked even if it was a bit redundant. 

With the gaming laptop I invested in a mechanical keyboard, gaming mouse, and docking station. This would prove fortunate a few months later as the pandemic hit. The change in routine also saw me not needing the Surface. I wasn't traveling. I wasn't podcasting the same way (and would eventually drop this entirely.) I didn't consider ditching the Surface too much. 

Then I recently got a strange desire to revisit Apple products. I started with the iPad because I wanted to get more serious about digital art. I really like it as I have written about a few times now. It has quite a few functions and features that meet or exceed the use of the laptop and Surface. 

The funny thing about it is I have so many redundancies and I don't know how to resolve them all. The one thing I keep thinking about is the Moleskine Daily Planner. I write it in sporadically because I lost the twenty year habit. I also replaced a part of its function with a Lochby pocket journal. I make grocery lists, to do lists, jot down notes, and tons of other little things that I just don't like wasting space in the Moleskine for. Having both seems ridiculous just like all the devices I have. 

I won't journal in the pocket notebook. That isn't what it is for. It really helps me to write down things I don't want to forget. 

I won't carry the Moleskine in my pocket to be ready at a moment's notice. I should be using this daily, but I am not. It hurts me to admit that breaking the habit has likely killed the usefulness of these books

My gaming laptop made the Steam Deck unnecessary, but I (mostly) prefer to game on the Steam Deck as it is more powerful and self contained. It also travels extremely well. I won't ditch the gaming laptop because it is still the main productivity device I use.

I am keeping the Kindle Fire... unless it works out to replace it with the iPad. 

It seems as if the iPad and the Surface are the things that are most directly unnecessary. Keeping one or the other for travel makes sense. Keeping both seems silly. 

I don't have to get rid of anything. I could keep it all, but the clutter of my life robs me of some joy. For a couple of weeks now I have been making lists for all of my non- video game based devices. I haven't fully figured out what I am getting rid of, but I am about to get into a real spring cleaning phase. The thing I want to avoid doing is doing something just for the sake of feeling like I am making progress and end up with good habits being broken and regret the way I did with the Moleskine Daily Planners. 

Anyone want to come intervene in my life and help me make all the right calls and discover the joy of less through minimalism?