laptop, out. blackberry, in. oh yeah, pen and paper are in, too.

[justin gosling]

One of my favorite parts of modern life is when your computer only shows hostile vertical lines when you just want Windows to boot up.  And just in time for law school, no less.  Awesome.   Thank goodness I have a phone with email capabilities and the nimble thumbs of a tween. Yep, I'm phone blogging.  Phlogging.

One piece of good news is that the professor in my Con Law class has a 'no laptop' policy, so I'm not at a disadvantage compared to the other students in that class, despite my computer's failure at life.  The professor actually laid out a decent argument for banning laptops in the classroom, and I am going to give the laptop-less second year a try. 

So far I actually feel pretty good about sticking to pen and paper, but I do miss the ability to check my email and read the news during a dry moment in the classroom.  The big benefit to using a pen and paper is that it forces you to think about what you want to write because you can't just hit delete to make a correction.  This added level of focus seems to help, but it may be too early to make any firm conclusions.

I did notice that during class some people using laptops were taking down an insane amount of unnecessary notes and spending waaaay too much time not focusing on the task at hand.  I kept asking myself if I did the same things before converting to life sans laptop.

Okay, maybe 'sans laptop' isn't entirely correct because Tony the Repair Guy is going to fix my computer, and I do plan on transcribing my handwritten notes onto it once it's up and running.   Cutting out the technology 100% is probably just as bad as relying on it 100%.  I thing there is a strong argument for using computers (and other technology) to supplement tried and true methods of taking notes.  If you can take notes well on the computer, e.g. in the same way as you would with a pen and paper, then by all means continue on.  If, however, you are taking unnecessary notes or find yourself browsing for shoes on eBay, then maybe you should use the computer to supplement your studying rather than letting it subvert your studying.

I'm willing to be the test case, but first I need to call up Tony the Repair Guy because typing on this tiny keyboard is killing my thumbs.

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Comments

[Patrick]

Too bad you didn't by a mac.

[Patrick]

Er, "buy."

Um, yeah.

[Justin Gosling]

I didn't buy a mac because (1) I didn't need the hipster cred and (2) I had to have a real computer for my programming hobby. ZING!

[San Antonio Lawyer]

That makes sense.

[QUINETTE]

THAT WAS A GREAT STORY WHAT EVER YOU CALL IT

[Cheap Computers]

I didnot bought a Mac computer because i don t have enough money as Mac products are very expensive........
http://www.electrocomputerwarehouse.com