Does Technology Make Us More Productive?

Applications that do the math for us.   Computers that allow us to write, rewrite, and polish all without starting from scratch each time.  Working on multiple screens at once (multi-taking at its finest).  Even features as simple as copy and paste.  All are designed to save us time, precious time.

So, Does Technology Save Us Time?

Yes!  It definitely saves us a lot of time.  At times.   Applications and computer features do a lot of the manual work that we used to do ourselves.  Computers allow us to write articles, polishing them along the way.  No longer do we have to retype a page if we got a typo on a page (for those of you that remember typewriters!).  

Then there are those of us that like to do our work on multiple screens.  We start processing a task on one screen and while we wait we get another going on another screen.   Tell me this doesn’t save a lot of time!

Especially for those of us that are particularly proficient with computers, they can be a huge timesaver.  They can help us meet deadlines, make projects look “pretty,” and are a repository for all our work

Does Technology Cost Us Time?

Yes!   First, it takes time to learn.  When you are new to computers, and we all were at some point or another, it took quite a bit of time to learn.  And each new application drives the learning curve up a at least a bit as well.  Granted the more you know, the easier it is to build upon.

Then there are the glitches.  The ones that cause a reboot, a slowness in screen transitioning, or worse yet, the blue screen of death!   These glitches definitely slow us down and may even cause us to lose data and make us start from scratch on our project.

Save Time or Cost More Time?

I think that despite its costs, it’s safe to say that computers (all forms of them) definitely save more time than they cost.  Especially when that initial learning curve is over.   While we constantly hear that multi-tasking is not really as efficient as we think, as I’m working two screens, I often beg to differ.   Completing two tasks during the time it takes to complete one seems like a win for me.

What’s your Thoughts?

Overall, do you feel like computers save you time, even new applications that you have to learn from scratch?  Have you been hindered by your computer to the point of great frustration?