Get Googling

Two weeks ago today I would have been considered a luddite.  My phone was of the flip variety.  Every text I sent or received cost me extra money.  My calendars were all made out of trees.  I had to wait for my computer to boot up to check or send an email.  I had no idea there were imojis with angry cat masks, devil masks, and people wearing surgical masks.

But now . . . oh, my world is a different place.  I have a fancy schmancy Samsung smartphone with an honest-to-goodness data plan and a slick Samsung tablet that syncs with it.  My sister and I text ALL the time.  I have become so addicted to imojis that I was responding to something on my phone, got irritated that I couldn't find the imoji I wanted . . .or any imojis at all! . . . and then realized of course I didn't have imojis: I was emailing! 

Google  has taken over my life.  Really.  I have a Google+ profile, which I didn't want, but needed in order to host this blog.  (It is only fair to say, however, that had Google+ been the big thing before Facebook, I would have done Google+ instead.  I like the look and feel of Google+ a ton . . . but honestly, I'm managing 2 Facebook accounts, 2 email accounts, a LinkedIn account, and a blog.  How much social media can one person handle?!

My two Gmail accounts ping my phone every time a new message comes in.  Storm Songs is hosted by Google's Blogger.  I share documents on Google Docs.  Then there's YouTube . . . we all know that if you can't find it on YouTube it's just not worth finding! 

I tried using the mobile Google maps to plot the best paths to libraries (so I could drop off RI Farm Scavenger Hunt brochures), but that one didn't work so well.  (Sorry, Google!  Maybe you should make it easier to add multiple locations and print from my phone . . . !)

Maybe my favorite thing, though, is my Google Calendar.  I've used shared calendars before (in my former life when I was carrying one of the first generation cell phones with email capability for work), and they were bears to set up and sync.  Not so with Google!  When I first entered an event via my desktop and it was immediately available on both my phone and tablet with no manual syncing or programming of any kind . . . WOW!  The emails were easy, too . . . no call to tech support required!

I freely admit that my technology makes many aspects of my new life and work easier and more efficient.  Last week I was visiting my sister when my phone alerted me to a new email.  It was my editor informing me that she was missing 2/3 of the article and photos I'd emailed to her because her email server couldn't handle the size of the attachments I'd sent.

First I panicked.  (Deadlines are deadlines in the newspaper business!)  Then I remembered.  I'd emailed the files.  It didn't matter that I'd used my home computer.  I'd used a Gmail account.  So I found the email, copied the attachments, and slipped them into a DropBox folder . . . all with my tablet.  I could just as easily have done it with my phone.

Another plus is that my calendar is always with me.  Unlike before, I don't have to keep track of purse, calendar, phone, and pen.  In fact, if I ever progress to the mobile pay apps, my wallet could become a thing of the past.  (Who needs a laminated driver's license--store it on your phone!)

Today I was waiting outside to put my niece on the bus when my phone rang.  It was a grower I want to interview for an article.  I was using my headset, so both hands were free to open the calendar on my phone and schedule a time without running in the house to find my planner, missing the bus, or having to call her back at another time.  Very efficient.

As much as I love my gadgets, they do have their drawbacks.  The biggest one is that I find it hard to ignore the pings, so I can easily become a person who reaches for the phone every two seconds.  My solution, at home anyway, is to try to only check the phone at the top of every hour.  (Calls I take . . . unless I'm reading The Horse and His Boy by C. S. Lewis to the kids . . . priorities, you know!)

For the most part, however, I am finding that these non-necessities are making it easier than ever to run a non-traditional business from home . . . or your sister's . . . or the eye doctor's.  And that makes it possible for me to be with my kids much more than if I were working a 9 to 5 for someone else.

Three cheers for Google!