My schedule was packed. It seemed like every day I watched deadlines whiz by and meetings go unaccounted. Tests appeared on days where I hadn’t remembered them, and social time with my friends went unplanned.
It was my junior year of high school, and things had started to pick up. I survived freshman and sophomore years without a problem, but life was starting to get busier than I thought was possible.
I could only fit so much into my already packed student planner, and I had no clue how to remedy the situation — until my friend showed me the biggest lifesaver of my school career: the online calendar.
From Google Calendar to Apple’s iCal, online calendars are incredibly versatile and important to manage students’ busy schedules.
My life changed overnight in high school. Sleek boxes kept my events in order and even reminded me a few days before I had a big exam or an important meeting. I sailed through the rest of high school without worrying if I’d missed an important activity.
But I really didn’t feel the full benefits of an online calendar until I got to college. I was now responsible for every aspect of my life, not just school. I couldn’t call up my mom to remind me when I had rehearsal or what time I had to be at the dentist.
But as I presented new problems to my iCal, it rose to the occasion with a solution.
In my old day planner, I was tired of penciling important information in a tiny box below a new event. Phone numbers, addresses and names became cluttered and unrecognizable by the time I needed to reference them. But my online calendar allows me to input addresses, names, phone numbers, notes and even Zoom links for online meetings.
Another problem I ran into was distinguishing between types of events on my calendar. When you look at a screen full of homogenous blue boxes, it can be hard to fully grasp what you have in store for the day. Online calendars allow you to color-code types of events and sort them into different categories, allowing easy viewing while also creating specific groups of events that can be managed all at once.
It’s important to distinguish between personal, class and rehearsal schedules as they often collide into one cramped calendar. Being able to visualize how much of your day will be taken up by certain activities can help you plan for a productive week and is extremely beneficial for students who divide their time between various responsibilities.
A final benefit to online calendars is that they are incredibly painless to share. Taking a quick screenshot of your day or sending an interactive link of your schedule to friends, classmates or coworkers can help you all decide when you are available to meet. This speeds up the process of confusing back-and-forth emails or messages.
Long story short, there is no way I could have navigated college without my online calendar. From helping me create a balanced and enjoyable schedule to saving me from frantically searching for Zoom links last year, my calendar is the most vital tool to my academic and personal success.
So if you don’t have an online calendar yet, what are you waiting for? Your color-coded dream schedule awaits.
Chris Sciortino (he/him) is a junior studying theater and public relations. He is involved with the Queer Student Union and College Democrats at IU.
