My New Year’s resolution for 2011 is to get into the cloud.
What does that mean?
Cloud technology refers to the internet. Because of the cloud, you can connect to information virtually using a number of different devices, such as multiple desktops, laptops or smart phones.
In the cloud, you are no longer limited to your own desktop or hard drive.
Why do I want to do this?
I’ll get to that in a moment, but first, lest you get the wrong impression, I’m not one to get into new technology right away unless I see a good reason.
But I got a smart phone this year. (Verizon has been telling me for years that I was eligible for a new phone, but it wasn’t until my old phone broke that I got an Android this summer.)
Problem is, other than talk on it, I’ve barely used all that it can do. With this phone, I can check my email, tweet and stay up-to-date on Facebook, but . . .
. . . I don’t really want to communicate that often. (I know this may surprise one or two of you who happen to think I put out too many emails.)
So why am I resolved to start “living in the clouds”?
Frustration.
Right now, I have an elaborate system for organizing into folders on Outlook the more-than-100-emails that I get each day. One folder for emails related to the conference, another for teleseminars, and another for blogs, etc.
With so many emails, such a system is vital, otherwise I’d be hopelessly lost trying to find something that’s come in only days earlier.
But, that system is done on a device (my computer at the office or my computer at home or my lap top for instance) and I’m spending too many hours re-organizing my emails into the correct folders every time I switch devises or locations.
A Gmail account will fix this problem. It will synch up all of the changes I’ve made to my account, so I can access it from anywhere and my progress will be saved. It won’t matter what device I’m on, my email will be “in the cloud” and I won’t have to waste time re-organizing anything.
Plus, I can save money.
But back to another one of my frustrations…I never seem to have the document that I need – something is saved on my desktop at home and I’m out of town with my laptop.
Or I need a more efficient way to collaborate with staff members and speakers.
Right now, one of us takes notes and then modifies a document by downloading, altering, saving, and emailing it back to each other for review.
And Google Docs can fix all of this.
This program allows people to collaborate over a document online together. I can alter it, while a speaker looks on and makes suggestions. This would be a huge time saver.
And learning to use my smart phone will go even further to lightening my load. I was at the garage last week waiting for my mechanic to put snow tires on the car and was wishing that I’d brought along my calculator.
Well, I don’t need to schlep a calculator ever again – my smart phone’s got one.
And I’m starting to text my nieces and nephews (and many of our staff) – it’s a much better way of getting their attention. (Not while I’m driving of course.)
So, do you know any cool apps?
One speaker at the conference told me you could download an application to play Buddhist chimes.
You might think that all this learning would be exhausting, but I’m saving time and money.
And there’s one more app that I just learned about last week…
I was going to buy a GPS when Josh, our engineer asked “Why would you do that, you’ve got a GPS already on your phone?”
And you know what? He’s right.
Leave a note below and tell us your experience with “living in the clouds.”
I also suffer from panic attacks(but not when driving) If your panic attacks are situational,(driving,etc) and you know that driving will bring on the panic attack, I highly recommend you to not stop taking your medicine if you plan on driving.. There is no way around it…I have tried to make sure I don’t get myself into the situations for me that bring on a panic attack.. People don’t understand how absolutely frightening,and scary it is to have a panic attack and how horribly out of control it makes someone feel.. If you ever want to talk about it please feel free to email me( I don’t know too many people myself that I can talk to about this)
Its like you read my mind! You seem to know so much about this, like you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you can do with a few pics to drive the message home a bit, but instead of that, this is great blog. A great read. I’ll certainly be back.
Well, Ruth, I’ve had my head in the clouds for some time now. I just got through reading Dr. Ofer Zur’s article about digital natives and digital immigrants and how to bridge the gap. (sorry Dr. Zur, I’ve forgotten the exact title) I was a keypunch operator in the mid 1960’s (probably while most of my peers were off marching in some protest or the other or going to college) We bought an Atari computer in the early 1980’s which my son learned to program as a kid in Jr. High, and on which I typed the first draft to my Master’s thesis. But I digress….I’ve had an IPhone for about 4 years now. I had the first model, gave it to my husband when I upgraded and am about to upgrade to IPhone 4 in a month or two. For Christmas this year I got an IPAD. I do all of my client management on my computer through a company called Therasoft Online, which has an app for the Iphone and the the Ipad. Some of my clients text me regularly about appointment changes or requests. If you are going to work with younger clients, it is imperative that you are fluent in their language and customs. I just love the age we are living in, don’t you?
Dianna Kinkead, MA, LPC, LMFT
Psychotherapist
Ruth,
Interesting how Verizone catches you. I was also eligible for a new phone. I have had a Blackberry Storm for 1 1/2 years. Last week it broke and the Verizon rep said my insurance has an $89 deductible, so I opted to purchase a new phone, the Droid X.
The good thing is that it is compatible with the blue tooth in my BMW 550i, which the Blackberry Storm was not.
The Storm had lots of problems but after 1 1/2 years I was used to using it.
Suddenly, once again, I was unable to do even the most simple tasks once I left the store with my new phone.
I received a call and could not respond, even though I kept pressing on the green phone symbol. Why – because I had to slide something to the right to unlock the phone.
Then, with clients in my office, I was unable to turn Off the phone. Why – because I had to slide something on the right to turn off the sound.
My friend, who loves her DroidX, came over to my home as my personal DroidX technician to help me get started.
The Verizon store is giving a DroidX class on January 8. By then I will be ready to add some new apps and really take advantage of what this phone has to offer.
All this new technology is wonderful – once you know how to use it.
Erica
Hi!
I bought a Droid a few months ago, but ended up taking it back to Verizon. One of the main features that I use my “smart phone” for is scheduling appointments. I found this very time-consuming and inaccurate to do on the Droid. Also, I was not able to change the size or color of the font, which was hard on my eyes. The main annoying thing about it was that I was always pushing something inadvertently and wiping out what I had written. Although my Blackberry is not as good for internet applications, it is better for my day-to-day scheduling, calling, and e-mailing.
That being said, my husband has a Droid. One of the applications he downloaded yesterday was a Spanish-English dictionary, which will come in quite handy, as we leave for Costa Rica tomorrow.
Best of luck with “living in the clouds” next year!
Margie Freeman
P.S. I heard that next year will be the last NICABM Conference. Just curious—why?
Hi ruth, I bought an Iphonelast summer and it has been my constant companion. At the beginning of the day it is my alarm clock, and it knows to wake me up at different times on different days, and also it tells me when it is time togo to bed.
Yes I have a Zen bell ring hourly (it is your coice how often and when it rings) mine is called Zen Reminder. I can change the wallpaper with my wallpaper app. Of course it will also take pictures, play games with me,(some of them are not junk, I recommend glow puzzle. It is my radio, and I can get programs later if I cannot listen when theprogram is on the air. I haven’t tried movies. However, I once let my kindle at my office to my dismay, but found that I could read easily on my Kindle app. I make more discoveries every day. Try dragon; you speak into it, and then you can copy the text into another program. Of course it is also a voice recorder so I can make relaxation discs for my patients. It also lets me copy my spanish lesson disks (it is an ipod) so I can listen to spanish lessons while I am driving. On and on. Enjoy your Android. (Don’t you feel like dick Tracy sometimes when you are using it?)
Laraine
Welcome to the cloud and the world on smart phone apps! I am using a droid x and loving it’s use. Besides the ability to push email to my phone I use it to work on documents online. Google docs is useful as is documents to go for syncing with online work materials. You can also use Evernote to sync between phone and computer and capture all those great ideas that pop into you head. You can also use Evernote to clip artices/urls you visit to review later. Finding a useful twitter app is helpful especially if you have multiple accounts like I do. I use Plume but there are several that are very useful. Tweetdeck and Hootsuite can be integrated via phone and computer as well. That’s just a few…let me know if you want more recommendations.
Ruth,
My favorite tool for living in the clouds is a wiki. Despite all the negative things we’ve been hearing about wikileaks, a wiki is a fantastic site that can hold files and allow users to communicate about a given topic. I have used wikis to communicate with others for family emergencies, projects, nonprofits, schoolwork, and even planning a wedding. It’s easy to learn, too.
Thanks so much Ruth for jogging my mind. I’m due for an upgrade in one month (can I wait that long???) from my antiquated 2-year old cell phone and am so ready for upgrading and automating and accelerating and clouding!!!!
Hi Ruth,
I just finished a MSW in my early 50s and a side benefit was that I really learned how to use much more of what technology has to offer. Like you, I knew how to organize my stuff, but was often frustrated with having it in the wrong place. And the constant emailing of draft of papers, keeping track of where I’d worked on the most recent version….Google docs was great for that, as is a program called Dropbox. It too can be accessed from anywhere and automatically saves previous drafts of documents for a period of time. There is a free version and if you need more space you can purchase more storage space.
I too got an Android phone only when mine died this fall! I’ve had it for several months now and continue to discover new uses, apps, etc. The GPS works really well, even in Washington DC. It makes route adjustments really quickly, because sometimes I know a quicker way of getting to where I need to go! The main frustration that I’ve had with it is that it often takes a while to find the GPS signal. That may have to do with where I am though.
My young adult son is a computer engineer and he helped me a little in setting up the phone, but for the most part he said that I wouldn’t really learn how to use it unless I played around with it myself and figured things out. He was right! As a kid he’d told me that when it comes to computers, you learn to use them by overcoming your fear that you’ll ruin them permanently. Again, I found and still find that to be true. And as a therapist, I find that helping my clients overcome fear is often at the core of our work.
I appreciate your sharing your tips and hope you continue to do so!
I also appreciate and have benefited from the NICABM programs and look forward to meeting you at the conference, hopefully in 2011.
Happy New Year to you, your staff, and all of us!
Cornelia