Mitch Wagner's Weblog: "The tech-resistant are even more resistant to handheld computers than they have been to PCs; people LOVE their day planners and pen-and-ink calendars. Day-planner users don't get information just by reading text, they look at the sizes and shapes of characters, the neatness of the handwriting and how that might relate to emotional state and situation at the time of writing, the color of ink, spatial relations of text scribbled at odd angles all over a page, underlines, circles, arrows, and even the impression left by bearing down hard on a pen when writing. And the act of writing something down creates a muscle memory that helps us remember information better; it's not for nothing that we say that information is "engraved in memory."
Rarely have I seen a more eloquent discussion of that which endears so many of us to paper. I have to confess: I had PalmPilot envy when a friend got one for a graduation present in 1998. In the fall of 1999 I frey prey to one of my own, buying a then-state-of-the-art Palm IIIxe, which treated me well through graduate school. I religiously added all of my assignments as ToDos at the start of each term and was always on top of my group meetings and ultimate and soccer games. And it was so small and the battery lasted forever. It was great!
But then the Palm V started winning design awards and a classmate picked up a Palm VII, that well-conceived, poorly-executed wireless marvel with the goofy antenna. Suddenly, I felt like I had yesterday's news. Still I carried on stoically, my Palm IIIxe and me. I appreciated its ability to run on AAA batteries as I used it as my primary address book on a long journey across Europe in the summer of 2001.
My Palm IIIxe finally died last spring and I replaced it with a Palm Vx. I knew it wasn't cutting edge I was buying, but rather a modern design classic. Besides, I didn't really need any more functionality and I liked the combo of lightweight and smart style. Living in San Francisco, I felt confident being seen with my Palm Vx.
But then I changed jobs and the prospect of toting four devices on business trips had no appeal. I already had a personal cell phone and my beloved Palm Vx, but to get two more for work -- surely that would be enough to drive any man mad when clearing security. So I began to investigate smartphones, combo PDAs, this illusive convergence device best explified by the Handspring Treo. I soon remembered why I'd never bought one before: they are neither best of breed as phones or as PDAs. I eagerly awaited the launch of the new Kyocera 7135 and was absolutely certain that would solve all of my problems. It came out. It was heavy. It was big. It was way too expensive. Then I hear rumors of a forthcoming Samgsung i500. And I just knew that there would be a new Treo before too long. Should I wait?
In the end, I could not wait. Work demands got to me and so I did what any reasonable person would do: I compromised. Now I have a Treo synched to Outlook at work and a Palm synched at home to Yahoo! and a standalone personal cell phone and more chargers than I can keep track of. And you know the funny thing?
If you look at my desk, I have scribbles all over. Some are blue. Some are in red. There are asteriks, arrows, circles, boxes, lines and x's. More used to be in pencil until I lost my pencil last week. Technology, no matter how small, powerful or sexy they may try to convince us it is, will never match the simple elegance of pen and paper.
Paper's batteries never die (unlike these new "rechargable" gadgets that always seem to be on their last bar of life). Paper is still readable on a sunny day (unlike the screen on my Treo phone). Paper is tactile, paper allows for handwriting to be unique, sometimes illegible, but sometimes, too, a thing of marvelous beauty.
I think Hannah is still floored about my mother's recent compliment on her handwriting. When was the last time someone on the subway complimented your Palm on its sans-serif print?
