Sync Your Life!

I have written about this topic before, but it is one of those things that always bears repeating. Today it is common for people to carry with them more than one digital device. In the past, even as little as 5 years ago, the average device a person carried was one. However, it was about 5 years ago that it started to change, and now it is not strange for someone to have 2 or even 3 or 4 devices at any one time. Sure 4 might be a bit much, but I know people who have to carry them all or they will freak out!

Usually when this is the case, and someone needs to carry 2-3 devices it comes down to 2 cell phones (one personal and one strictly work) and a music device. What really gets me about this though is the fact that each one of these devices that people carry are designed and engineered to be a Jack of All Trades device. So this being the case what is it that makes people carry multiple phones and something else? Well, in some cases it is just habit and in others just technological ignorance. It drives me nuts when people ask me what type of music player to buy when I know they have an iPhone or Android phone in their pocket. I ask them, "what is the need for a dedicated music player when any cell phone on the market can do everything a music player can do?" Needless to say, they do not have an answer.

Synchronization is the key to keeping it all together in today's world. Not only with your hardware, but with your software as well. It is ideal for a person to only need one device. That one device should be able to do everything that the person will need. The only time you should need more than one piece of hardware is when switching from mobile to static. An example of what I mean is your cell phone and your desktop/laptop computer. There are still things that phones cannot do as well as your computer (believe it or not) and when that is the case you simply need to hop on the old keyboard.

There is nothing wrong in my opinion with utilizing multiple devices when it comes to your phone and your computer or your home entertainment devices. Of course, this is where the software part of syncing your life together comes in. The apps and the software that you install on your hardware should be able to simplify your life, not make it more complicated. Keep that in mind as we continue our discussion.

So how do you sync your life together? For me it is a simple solution, and there are plenty available today. I personally use Google to keep all of my "crap" together. Let me give a quick example. Next week I have a Parents meeting for a big trip my daughter's broadcasting class is going on. My wife entered the date on her Google Calendar through her phone and of course, it showed up on my phone's calendar right away. It also showed up on my Google web calendar AND my laptop Outlook calendar. I have all of these applications synchronized with one another so any changes made to one happens to all. The same is true for any other apps I might have running on my laptop or tablet even. Changes made to them are seen on my other devices too.

This makes for an easy life. When anything I do on one device appears right away on another I do not have to shuffle around looking for things that I think I lost. Makes my life a lot easier. The same can be true for anyone. Most apps worth their weight will have these features standard. There is no reason not to in today's world. You also have to consider how well these applications can keep it together when choosing what to go with. Will you use Google or some other company and their software? The choices are out there and most of them are pretty good. I personally choose Google because they have the most syncing options available and work seamlessly with all my hardware (tablets, phones, and computers).

There is no reason today why a person should have multiple devices and then have to struggle half the day keeping contacts synced from one phone to the next. The music players and options on todays phones are better than most stand-alone players and they can usually plug into a home entertainment center for louder sound and keeping your music in one place. Gone are the days of having a huge cd rack when all you need is a phone the size of a deck of playing cards.