A reminder reminds you about a task that you have to do. It might be a task you have set for yourself. For example, you set tomorrow afternoon as the time to start writing your new novel. Or it might be a task that is important enough that it must be done without fail. You have to take your medicine in time and cannot forget it.
As mentioned in a previous post on different kinds of memory, tasks memory is a special field of psychology known as prospective memory. Prospective memory, dealing with the future, is a unique human capability. However, humans are very poor in this area and frequently forget tasks that they have to do. It is here that reminders become helpful.
Reminders become an absolute necessity when you have to attend to several different kinds of work. Here is an answer from Carol Arold, former Division Manager (Retired) at AT&T Bell System to a Quora question about reminders: ‘It depends on how complicated and “hectic” your life is! I recall when we were in the process of building a new home, selling the current one and we were both working demanding jobs. If we didn’t have a comprehensive “Things to do list”, there would have been some serious missteps.’
Actually just having a to do list is NOT enough (unless you are a well organised person who checks the list conscientiously, probably multiple times a day). For example, a grocery shopping list you have prepared is useless if you find that you have left it at home. Or you bring it, but refuses to refer to it during your shopping (because you feel confident that you remember everything in the list). Back home you might find that you have omitted to buy something essential (which was actually in the list).
You need a reminder to remind you about each item in the list at the right time. The task or grocery item must pop out in front of your eye or into your ear at just the right time. You can do this in different ways, such as setting an alarm to wake you up in time for that early morning flight, or scheduling a message to pop up the shopping list on your smartphone at the right time. Again, these are for people who are well-organised.
A REMINDER FOR THE MEMORY VULNERABLE
Even well organised people tend to become less and less well organised as they age. Old persons might forget to do even simple everyday tasks. This is particularly unfortunate because it is when you are old that you are more likely to need medicines to be taken at the right times.
Memory vulnerability is not restricted to ageing. Conditions like ADHD/ADD and Dyslexia that can affect young people can also affect tasks memory. Affected persons might find it difficult to perform critical tasks required to perform well in their jobs.
NATURAL REMINDERS
NR is a natural reminder system that has been designed specifically for effective functionality. It is easy to use: You just load the app on your phone, click a button and speak the task to be done. And then set the time to do it using an in-built clock. NR will then automatically schedule reminders for the right time (actually, you can customise the reminder to happen in advance, instead of just in time, if that is considered necessary). The smartphone in your pocket will speak out (or vibrate) to remind you about the task.
NR is developed by a psychologist to simulate the natural prospective memory functionality. Regular daily use of NR exercises your prospective memory processes, and could lead to improvement in tasks memory.
You can download NR from Google Play store or Apple app store.