Since the dawn of time, humans have used a variety of tools to organize and schedule their lives. The most common tools have been the physical calendar, a pencil and notebook, and the mental to-do list. However, with innovations arising from technology, online calendars became more mainstream in scheduling appointments.

How did people make appointments in the past?

In order to arrange plans with someone else or with a business, one traditionally went about it by asking and agreeing on a mutually free date, time and location. This discussion would often be done either in person or through other forms of communication such as letters and the telephone. They would usually then have to take note to keep the details in mind, many then choosing to write it on any available piece of paper they could find to serve as a reminder or record of the details.

This method, however, required them to still remember the fact that they made such a note on that particular piece of paper so that they could refer back to it for the details. Over time, these pieces of paper could get misplaced, lost or forgotten and individuals would miss their appointments. This was, until the introduction of the paper planners, eliminating the need to search through stacks of paper slips to find the right information.

The Creation of Paper Planners

The invention of the paper planner was a step forward for individuals seeking some semblance of organization in their day-to-day lives. It served as a way to compile aforementioned loose pieces of paper with appointment information in one place that could be easily referenced.

In American History, the first ever published planner was the Complete Annual Account Book and Calendar for the Pocket or Desk for 1773 by a lawyer named James Wilson and publisher Robert Aitken, or so the latter claimed. Though it contained the same charts and elements from the almanac that was familiar and deemed important by the people of that era, it had an additional section of dated spaces for the purposes of recording monies and memos by date.

The days were laid out in linear sequence, a week at a time for a year, allowing one to be able to anticipate events ahead of time when he noted appointment details by their respective dates. With Aitken claiming that such a format and design had no precedent in the colonies, it offered one the ability to see the days of the week, month, year laid out before them and they could enter their personal engagements.

The product, however, didn’t take off very well at first, mostly due to unsuitable times and a clientele that was not interested nor ready for it. Over time, planners took off and by 1850, it had become a lucrative business. Made popular by soldiers who brought their planners into battle, the book emerged post-Civil War as a national basic, commonly marketed by names such as the Standard Diary and the American Diary. It wasn’t long before the the planners received a boost in their intended user base as the working class and women found a format that suited them, though the product had been originally targeted for well-to-do men.

The Dawn of the Online Calendar

Thanks to advances in technology, calendars were made available on one’s devices. They could easily create, edit and delete events within their calendar, no longer having to go through the hassle of scratching out canceled or postponed plans. The online calendar was regarded as a clean and efficient way of keeping track of one’s personal appointments and schedule without having to carry around the weight of a paper planner or notebook.

Additionally, businesses and organizations began to utilize the tool for online calendar scheduling. Instead of using a traditional appointment book, they made use of appointment scheduling software to allow their customers to book their appointments.

While the former was very easy-to-use, it had its difficulties when it came to readability, the problem of double bookings and limited writing space available. On the other hand, going digital helped to circumvent many of the challenges of its traditional counterpart as well as having additional features such as back-ups, real-time updates across multiple devices and unlimited space to jot down notes and other details as well as accurately obtaining a customer’s information since they would be the ones filling in the information themselves, minimizing potential errors due to misspellings, for example. Online appointment scheduling has also been known to minimize no-shows, which are known to be a major source of revenue loss for some industries.

The Best of Both Worlds

The world today is one of constant change and rapid technological advancement. Everything that people use is constantly evolving and being improved upon. From computers and phones to books and the internet, we have relied on all sorts of items and innovations in our daily lives. However, while digital versions seem to have plenty of advantages over their traditional counterparts, people are still drawn to relying on the use of pen and paper to note down any appointments, plans and notes.

Now is indeed the age of being digital and using all the various tools and software but that does not mean the original and traditional are now obsolete. Rather, both versions are coexisting to provide one the optimum experience based on his or her needs, wants and requirements.