Electronic Clutter Comes To TiVo
It used to be that clutter was something that could be seen (on our counters, in our closets, in the basement) and now it has become a staple in our electronic equipment as well. We have all dealt with email inboxes bursting with unread messages, filing systems that make it hard to retrieve Word, Excel, & Powerpoint files, and maybe even a PDA that is filled with to-dos we can’t seem to find time to finish. Gannett News Service contributor John Kiesewetter points out in a recent article how this type of overflow is making it’s way into Digital Video Recorders (DVRs).
DVRs are a wonderful piece of technology that can help free up our time to watch our favorite programs on our own schedule (as well as skip through commercials). As the article discusses, we defeat the purpose of the DVR if we let it fill up with programs we will never get to. Even worse (if it needs to make room), it may start deleting programs that you haven’t gotten to yet. If we let it get to this point, what was intended to be a helpful device, has now become a burden to manage all the programs we save. To be mindful we want to make the decisions about how the DVR manages our shows. For instance are you recording only the programs you care for most? How many episodes should you keep? Do you really need to record the re-runs?
Technology, like a DVR, can help support our goals. If it becomes a burden take the time to reflect on how you’re using it. What piece of technology do you invest a lot of time dealing with? How can you simplify it such that it supports you rather than the other way around?
