Google
Calendar has changed how I think about my days. Whenever someone asks me what I’m
doing on a specific day, or what my week looks like, or even just what I did today – I need to pull out my
phone and check, because I otherwise have the hardest time remembering. And
while I’m extremely glad I have Google Calendar – as I couldn’t fit nearly as
much into my schedule without it – I hate how silly I look pulling out my phone
just to tell someone about my day.
I remember how
scattered I felt when I started my first year at the U. Each day, I needed to
go to several buildings whose names and locations were new to me, with weird
gaps in my daily schedule. And to make matters worse, it wasn’t even consistent
day to day due to the Monday-Wednesday and Tuesday-Thursday scheduling formats
typical of classes. I was lost. And I hated using a physical planner: the cumbersome,
free, softcover type that gets tattered after only a couple months of use, and
smudges my left hand as I write. As I started becoming involved in internships
and student organizations, people kept telling me about “gcal”, and how it
would change my life. I think this was meant to be hyperbole at the time, but
it certainly ended up being true.
I think
that it’s so easy to become reliant on Google Calendar because the concept of something that will: basically
plan your days for you, through the “repeat” feature; allow you to add things
to your schedule in an easy and sleek way; and enable you to effortlessly
synchronize your schedule with other users – in the modern age of
hypercompetitiveness and desired productivity – is enticing, to say the least.
Furthermore, in accordance to Bourdieu’s theory, I think that the act of using
Google Calendar inadvertently communicates something about the user: likely
that they value productivity, are busy and probably professionally involved in
some sense (as a professional or student), and that they have the wealth
necessary to own and maintain a smartphone. And truly, Google Calendar finds
its place within habitus through its
existence as one of the “most insignificant aspects of the things, situations
and practices of everyday life.” Nothing is more mundane and everyday than setting
your schedule, but, evidently, Google Calendar nonetheless has great potential
to make you forget what you did, even hours ago, on a busy day.
I am exactly the same way. People see my Google Calendar and get stressed out because it looks like I'm super busy (which honestly I am), but I block out every thing I will do during the week. Haha I think I take it too extreme, but between classes, my jobs, working out, studying, and finding time to socialize, I have to make sure every second of my day is being utilized. This way I make sure I am staying productive, and only give myself certain blocks of time to relax or mindlessly scroll through Facebook (although I miiiiight do this during some classes too haha). "Gcal" honestly is saving my life, I don't know how I'd function without it. And that's kind of terrifying. Yay for technology becoming such an integral part of our existence that were it to disappear we'd be dumbstruck...
ReplyDeleteWhoa, super interesting! Do you think that you definitely accomplish more because you use google calendar? Every time I try to use an online scheduling software it doesn't last, mostly because I CAN'T get myself to actually keep it updated. I also always over-schedule myself and then get down on myself for not doing everything I said I would do. I also try to do things based on how I'm feeling, like doing homework different classes based on what I'm in the mood for, working out when I just can't do homework anymore and need to move, going to bed when my body really wants me to. (This is probably obvious: I don't get as much done as I would like because I am like this.) However, I really wonder how over-scheduling affects our ability to tell what our bodies want.
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