The Tribune

By D’Arch Rahming

A friend of mine always buys the latest gizmos and gadgets to keep him productive. In fact, he has tried on more than one occasion to enlist me in the technology army. His phone can do some amazing things, and he often programs all of his activity into it. He uses it as a scheduler, a watch, a notepad, an alarm clock and many other things. He is also able to get his e-mail and update his Facebook page. It seems to me that he wastes the better part of a day playing with this thing.

On the other hand, my son declared to me that having a watch has “changed his life.”. He, too, is a gadget guy, who spends hours programming his phone. When I asked him what he meant by that, he says the watch creates mini deadlines. It is awkward to continuously reach into your skinny jeans to find your phone to glance at the time. So the question is: “Has technology made us more productive?”

My answer to that is; it depends on your personality. If you are constantly distracted and have to check your eimail every 15 minutes. If you are at meal times and in a conversation with someone miles away, and not dealing with the persons in front of you. Then you are not necessarily more productive. You may, in fact, find that your relationships with people are suffering if every time they try to speak to you, you have a phone to your head. Or if you cannot get through a bedtime story with your child without an interruption. That’s not productivity; that’s insanity.

Technology is a natural part of life for the under-30 generation. That is why it is silly for educators to teach Microsoft Word and Excel to high school students. That is like teaching them to use a pen and paper. They already know how to operate these programs or will figure them out. But while they are figuring them out, they should learn how to use a day planner, with pen and paper, wear a watch and actually open a book instead of doing all of their reading off computer screens.

You may think I am being old school, but if technology makes us so much more efficient, why is it that people still have to work an eight hour day? Why do they still miss appointments and deadlines?. Of course, you should use technology, but you should always ask yourself the question: What exactly are you trying to accomplish? So the take away from this article is to know yourself and personality type, so you can optimise the use of technology.

• NB: D’Arcy Rahming holds an MBA from the prestigious Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. A lecturer at the College of the Bahamas (COB), Mr Rahming has clients in general insurance, the retail, health and medical fields, sports federations and financial services. He is also treasurer of the Bahamas Olympic Committee. To receive his marketing newsletter FREE go to http://darcyrahming.com