We were told that the brave new digital world will give us all the time in the world – to learn a language, to prepare for what’s ahead, or just to kick back and chew the cud. Well, readers, we were lied to. Here are ten things I find myself not using any more – things that, for a learner / polyglot / tech aficionado like me, used to be commonplace. See if you agree with any of those?
1. Podcasts. Nothing gave me more joy than listening to a good story, or learning a few phrases of a new language. This used to make my trips to and back from work all the sweeter. Now I don’t go back to my feeds any more. The reason has something to do with the fact that I can’t stand men explaining things to me any more. So maybe I’ll come back to those stories once I find more female podcasters? Tips welcome.
2. Netflix. This is still and on-and-off thing: a business stay in a hotel room with good wi-fi is still likely to trigger a massive re-watch of Galactica. But I no longer cling to this the way I used to. Partly because there’s no more time among the cool things that happen, and partly because London finally became an interesting place – not just a scary one.
3. Memrise. Remember Memrise? I had to delete the app from my Android. No idea what went wrong – it just no longer worked for me. This could be just my fault, and the guys are still doing some of the best work in digital learning around (they’re great fun too!)
4. Comment sections. I mean, WHOA. I deleted comments on this blog and never looked back.
5. RSS feeds. This was also my daily ritual some time ago. The feeds were nicely arranged, and they brought me enough information and inspiration to keep me going. I stopped when Google Reader shut down – no other tool came close.
6. Fitness tracking. Yes, I played around with this for a while. And yes, my Endomondo account is still active. But I don’t find it challenging at the moment. The route from work and to work is a 30-minute walk each way. Measured countless times. And as for other ways of keeping fit – they don’t track well!
7. LinkedIn. I am officially launching a worldwide search for people who know what this is about. There’s an aura of capability and professionalism still surrounding this social network, but every time I look deeper, the aura is pierced by another of my “connections” posting one of those maths quizzes which 98% of the population is unable to answer.
8. Siri / Google Now / voice-operated anything. A native speaker of English once told me that my accent sounds like that of an Irishman who spent too much time with German people. That should be enough to help me understand that too many of my interactions with Siri et al. will end like this:
[trx_video url=”https://vimeo.com/31286252″ ratio=”16:9″ autoplay=”off”]
9. Touch typing tutorials. 2014 was the year of being obsessed about my typing speed, and trying to change it for the better. 2015 is the year of taking a deep breath, accepting the fact that not every one of my fingers is a flawless ninja, and plodding on.
10. Productivity blogs. Ironic, right? 😉 This is another one to file under “not as much as I used to.” People who knew me 3-5 years ago will testify that each new GTD clone, each new life hack was something I would read about, discuss, link to, meditate upon – and rarely implement. The stage I’m at right now is maybe the “using what I’ve time for” stage – so with enough productivity tactics, I might be able to make more time for reading productivity blogs. ‘Cos it feels good, really!
There you have it. I enjoyed listing those: many of the items make me happy, but I’m a bit sorry that I don’t have enough time or patience left for others. Do you have a “no-longer-doing” tech list like that?
Wiktor (Vic) Kostrzewski (MA, DELTA) is an author, translator, editor and project manage based in London. When he works, he thinks about languages, education, books, EdTech and teachers. When he doesn’t work, he probably trains for his next triathlon or drinks his next coffee.
BRAVE Learning (formerly known as 16 Kinds) is a lifelong learning and productivity blog. If you enjoy these posts, please check out one of my books and courses.
My recent publications, and my archive, is now all available on my new project: PUNK LEARNING. Hope to see you there!