Is Micromanaging Your Life With an App Really a Good Idea?
When I arrive for my meeting with Sara Whitestone, a 28-year-old neuroscientist based in Bordeaux, I’m sweaty and five minutes late. Whitestone is already putting my delay to good use by calling her mother in the U.S. Immediately, I realise that she and I aren’t cut from the same cloth. In life, you have two types of people: Those who organise their time, and those who run around chasing it like headless chickens.
Whitestone works for an international group based in Switzerland: It’s a time-consuming career with weekly travel obligations. One of her favourite project management tools is Jira, basically “a to-do list, but on steroids,” as she describes it. “I live and breathe my to-do list at work,” she says. “I'm juggling so many projects and have so many things I need to remember.” Her favourite apps are synchronised to her personal calendar, too - which she shares with her boyfriend.
“And now, the crazy part,” Whitestone continues. She says her management tools have also become fundamental in keeping track of other parts of her life – from dates to couple trips, from exercise classes to endometriosis symptoms, and even random thoughts. When she shows me her apps, I feel as if I’ve been granted access to her entire private life. “I don't have to remember if my phone tells me,” she explains when I ask why these apps are so useful to her.
