Do Planners Work?

   This generation of high school students has been taught to use planners since a young age. Every day, five minutes before school was over, elementary school teachers would end class and pull up the list their students need to write down in their planners. The planner is to be taken home and signed by a parent. This custom ended when students hit middle school. Planners gain little popularity again when students reach high school.

   “I think they’re very pointless because it’s a waste of paper when everything can be digital. You have to train yourself to look at your planner and it takes up a lot of unnecessary space,” junior Mackenna Rowe said.

   The only concern with not using a planner is forgetfulness. No one wants to forget an important appointment or an extra work shift.

   “I keep pictures of my work schedule saves in photos so that I have easy access to it, and I set reminders on my phone for homework so if I’m stressed about other things I don’t have to remember to check an actual planner because my phone will literally alert me to do homework,” Rowe said.

   In elementary school, students are still taught to use planners in the same fashion this generation of high schoolers were.

   “I have to write all the things we’ve done in my planner every day. I don’t really like it because it makes my hand hurt and we have to be quiet. I really don’t know why the teacher has us do it,” fifth-grader Rhett Dickens said.

   It has been questioned whether planners become useful again when teenagers become adults, or if it is a difference in the customs of generations.

   “I like pretty pens and I like to write. I like to check things off. I’ll look at my planner the night before a day and see the day ahead of me because it makes me feel more in control of the day,” librarian Lyndsay Perry said.

   In 2018 it’s hard to believe not everyone uses apps on their phone to manage their lives.

   “I actually use both calendar apps and a planner,” Perry said.