Is it just me, or is all the technology that's supposedly designed to keep us more organized, really just creating more places to look when you can't remember where you've put that thing?
My defacto method of keeping things I want to remember to read or do - at least as far as internet articles, links, and sites are concerned -- is to keep a tab open in my browser. But something tells me that 45 tabs spread across three Chrome windows is maybe not the most efficient way of running my laptop. Duh.
I've tried some of the apps and sites designed to keep that all that stuff in some semblance of organized chaos, but there are just too many and I never remember where I've put what. Pinterest. Google Keep. Evernote. My iPhone notes. My camera roll. My bookmark folder. Is it in the cloud? On my hard drive? On my phone? There are too many places it could possibly be!
In the olden days (aka before the internet age -- I know that may be a difficult phrase to comprehend if you're under the age of 25) if there was something I wanted to read or remember, I put it on a bulletin board, which it kind of seems was what Pinterest was designed to be.
But just like a bulletin board could never fully track every single thing I needed to remember (and the spillover would inevitably extend to piles of papers on my desk, collages of invitations stuck to my fridge, and a plethora of colourful post-it notes pretty much everywhere), Pinterest similarly let me down. So then I tried Google Keep. And Google Drive. And Evernote (which has a 4-star rating on the App Store, but which I've never even used once) but nothing seems to cover the gamut of my storage needs. Ya feel me?
Am I the only one having this problem? Have all of you guys figured out some foolproof method of organizing your internet life into perfectly ordered folders of crystal clear logical goodness, and are currently shaking your head at my amateur organizational attempts? Or are you struggling, as I am, to keep track of all the articles, information, images, inspiration, and useful links that you come across on a daily basis? Because I swear, sometimes it feels like trying to keep up with all of the internet content I deem interesting or useful is actually becoming a full-time job (but without the promise of the much-needed paycheck at the end of that rainbow).
Maybe you've just given up entirely and have come to the (probably true) realization that internet links might be like when you feel like you've forgotten to pack some elusive item for your vacation, but can't remember what it is -- to that my mom would say, if you didn't remember it, it can't be that important. I mean really, do I really need to be able to re-visit the website for a Los-Angeles based gift basket company, a Pinterest board that consists almost entirely of funny old e-cards, a link to the soundtrack from The Great Gatsby, or the website for a design-y list-keeping app that I first came across in 2010? (I actually have four different to-do list apps bookmarked that I have never used -- the irony is not lost on me.)
Well I did have a good giggle going through those e-cards, so the answer is yes! I want to keep track of all this stuff so that someday in the near future, when somebody says, "Hey, I need some new interweb inspiration, preferably of the colour-coded variety." I can say, "I have the perfect link for that!"
So spill the beans. Share the goods. What are your favourite methods of organizing your digital world? What do you use to keep track of everything you want to remember to read, see, watch, and do? If you've got any good tips, leave them in the comments section below and share the wealth. And on behalf of everyone who will read your tips and benefit (and our limited computer processing power currently being sucked by Google Chrome) thank you.
This piece originally appeared on CuriousCitizen.com