I saw this Tweet in Anne Helen Peterson’s substack, Culture Study, and, people, I have SO MANY THOUGHTS.
First, yes, as a person in academia, no, I do not sync my calendar. Nope. Not gonna do it. No one but me can see what’s on my digital calendar. Even if they could, there’s not much to see. Massage and cranio-sacral appointments. Reminders for when Hulu+ un-pauses. The outlines of a vacation, but certainly not the flight times or anything like that.
Let me now acknowledge that I am so, so privileged to live a life that is deeply unscheduled. When my daughter was at home the calendar would have been a bit busier, but not much. As that increasingly rare phenomenon—a full-time, tenured, full professor—I have a lot of leeway to set my own schedule. I have a level of job security that is almost unimaginable in 2022. The college would have to be in serious financial trouble and declare those financial difficulties to the rest of the world before I could be fired.
But also, I guess I’m old and out-of-it-enough to still find the idea of giving other people that kind of control over my time deeply offensive. If I did have a detailed digital calendar I shared, every hour of the day would be blocked off with, “Busy doing stuff that’s none of your damn business.”
Maybe I’m missing something, but a shared digital calendar seems to encourage you to justify every minute of the way you spend your day. When I think of some administrator being able to look at my calendar, find an “unscheduled” moment and just insert a meeting, I recoil in visceral horror. Are you kidding me? You’re talking to a person who tries to spend at least ten minutes a day doing nothing (though you won’t see that on my calendar, either). I probably spend at least an hour staring out the window. These are some of the most important moments in my day.
Time is the single most valuable thing I have in this world. More than money. More than anything I own. It is finite. Every moment, the hourglass is running out. You will have to fight me tooth and nail to get me to give up a single one of those moments for some pointless meeting, let alone to have to justify to you why I don’t have time for your pointless meeting, regardless of what my calendar might way. I’m horrified that anyone allows this to happen, no matter the “convenience” of scheduling meetings it brings.
I will not be crossing that bridge. If your time belongs to you alone, so should your calendar.
What are you thoughts on the great digital calendar debate?
Agreed! I value my time more than anything. I share my work calendar, keep it up to date to the minute and still no one respects the time blocks which means I have to spend more time with the meeting organizer to find a new time. What is with this need for face to face meetings that require travel when Zoom is perfectly fine? I was asked to drive over three hours one-way to a meeting because it would be "fun" to meet in person. And on a Friday! I steadfastly refused and asked them to reconsider their work and meeting practices before scheduling future meetings. I miss the pandemic lock down! Oh and by the way meeting organizers, I have a 20 minute attention span so anything beyond that will not amount too much from me.
Yes, easy for me to imagine people (and which people specifically) would ignore times I have blocked off, but it feels like the equivalent of barging into someone's house and saying, "You're not doing anything, so we're having a party now! Where's my drink?"
We have shared calendars at work, but people can only see what’s available and what’s blocked they can’t see what’s in those blocks unless you allow it (which I don’t). I have mine blocked off all the time except for the hours I am leaving available for meeting scheduling, which is usually about three hours out of every work day. I used to have my whole calendar open, but I went to this new method about a year ago and no one has questioned it. Even my boss. Now sometimes somebody needs to schedule a meeting and they will ask me if I can move something – and sometimes I’m accommodating and sometimes I’m not. But this is the only way it works. I suspect I’m lucky in that I have a lot of autonomy in my job.
That does sound like the best of both worlds. I wonder if that’s part of workplace culture? I’ve only ever worked in academia and in one place, so I wonder how varied this is. Would you be in trouble at some places for not having more time available?
Oh for certain. I'm kind of surprised no one has questioned it, I didn't think I could until I did it! Some places would force you to make your calendar "public" (not that I can't still put "meeting" in as the only description.
What a great discussion! So glad I was working in the age where technology wasn’t so intrusive. My jobs required last minute plans and discussions often, so I sure wouldn’t have scored well in planning my time to the minute.
Agree with you Robyn. When I was working full-time, I was almost as privileged as a tenured professor...I had an executive assistant who handled my scheduling. When I’d get a new one, it took me about a month for them to figure out my preferences. But all-in-all I don’t like the idea of shared calendars.
Agreed! I value my time more than anything. I share my work calendar, keep it up to date to the minute and still no one respects the time blocks which means I have to spend more time with the meeting organizer to find a new time. What is with this need for face to face meetings that require travel when Zoom is perfectly fine? I was asked to drive over three hours one-way to a meeting because it would be "fun" to meet in person. And on a Friday! I steadfastly refused and asked them to reconsider their work and meeting practices before scheduling future meetings. I miss the pandemic lock down! Oh and by the way meeting organizers, I have a 20 minute attention span so anything beyond that will not amount too much from me.
Yes, easy for me to imagine people (and which people specifically) would ignore times I have blocked off, but it feels like the equivalent of barging into someone's house and saying, "You're not doing anything, so we're having a party now! Where's my drink?"
The more appointments you have the faster your perception of time...slow down for an apparently longer life...
Yes, though nothing slows down time in the worst way than a meeting that could have been an e-mail.
Since I work for myself, I never ever let that happen, but I feel for those who battle this plague...
I hate this shared calendar ethos!!!
Same!
We have shared calendars at work, but people can only see what’s available and what’s blocked they can’t see what’s in those blocks unless you allow it (which I don’t). I have mine blocked off all the time except for the hours I am leaving available for meeting scheduling, which is usually about three hours out of every work day. I used to have my whole calendar open, but I went to this new method about a year ago and no one has questioned it. Even my boss. Now sometimes somebody needs to schedule a meeting and they will ask me if I can move something – and sometimes I’m accommodating and sometimes I’m not. But this is the only way it works. I suspect I’m lucky in that I have a lot of autonomy in my job.
I guess it’s kind of the best of both worlds really, I don’t have a whole bunch of emails about meeting times and I block off whatever time I need. 
That does sound like the best of both worlds. I wonder if that’s part of workplace culture? I’ve only ever worked in academia and in one place, so I wonder how varied this is. Would you be in trouble at some places for not having more time available?
Oh for certain. I'm kind of surprised no one has questioned it, I didn't think I could until I did it! Some places would force you to make your calendar "public" (not that I can't still put "meeting" in as the only description.
What a great discussion! So glad I was working in the age where technology wasn’t so intrusive. My jobs required last minute plans and discussions often, so I sure wouldn’t have scored well in planning my time to the minute.
No kidding, Betsey. I get sort of annoyed when Jeff asks me what my plans for the day are. 😁
Agree with you Robyn. When I was working full-time, I was almost as privileged as a tenured professor...I had an executive assistant who handled my scheduling. When I’d get a new one, it took me about a month for them to figure out my preferences. But all-in-all I don’t like the idea of shared calendars.