The following letter was submitted in response to the opinion article, “Bookmark your way out of bookmarks,” discussing whether bookmarks hinder productivity and focus in everyday digital habits. The article reflects on a week-long experiment without using bookmarks and argues that simplifying saved content may improve efficiency and organization.
Dear Editor,
I read Andrew Georgy’s recent article regarding the effectiveness of bookmarks, finding myself somewhat relating to it. While I do agree with Georgy that bookmarks can “rot” without purpose, becoming a graveyard of unread links, I disagree with his stance that bookmarks are “almost completely useless.”
Georgy’s pure frustration he experienced during the “Tuesday-Thursday” portion of his experiment shows one of the small things that bookmarks can do for us—that being, allowing us to be efficient while saving time. Nowadays, school is as competitive as ever, and even the small things such as being able to seamlessly move to different sites that you need to go back to can act as a major workflow tool, improving efficiency and acting as a vital tool. By impeding potential frustration, it can hinder someone’s motivation, and I’ve experienced it firsthand. When annoyed with trying to find old research tools or apps, it made me want to quit working.
While Georgy mentions that bookmarks can pile-up, where most of them end up being unnecessary, I feel like the issue is not inherently the bookmarks and what we save, but the way in which we manage them. If we utilize the bookmark manager’s folder features, separating “Research” from “Daily Tools” and much more, we can keep our tabs clean without cluttering our page and trying to memorize previous links.
Bookmarks can store vital information, and I believe that if we use it correctly, they can be almost completely useful.
Sincerely,
Cason Thai
