AlphaSmart Neo – abolishing the ‘sirens of distraction’

So here’s the scenario – you’ve got a ton of writing that’s been sitting on your ‘to do’ list for days now. You decide the best way to deal with it is to set the alarm to get up bright and early the next day, so you can plough through it once and for all, and get it out of the way. The following morning! 6am! The alarm goes off! You raise yourself sleepily but determinedly from bed, bringing to mind the resolution you set yourself the previous evening. You go and prepare yourself a BIG mug of steaming java and then head resolutely in the direction of the computer.

What happens when you get to the computer? You fire it up. You open your word processor. You stare at the blank screen for five minutes, and then you make that fateful decision – the coup de grace of writing in the Internet age – you decide to either quickly check your email, or open your RSS reader to skim briefly through any updates that have come through overnight. Oh-oh..you’ve blown it now! You’ve gone and pulled the pin of self-sabotage, and that scheduled writing time you so resolutely set yourself explodes in a shower of emailing and mindless web surfing. That writing’s just going to have to wait until the next day, provided of course you can stop the same thing happening again.

Is this a scenario that sounds wholly familiar to you? It does to me, it’s my scenario after all ), and I know it’s one that’s probably played out in the homes of countless writers each and every day. If it’s not a morning scenario then it’s an ‘after work’ scenario, if it’s not an ‘after work’ scenario then it’s an ‘after the kids go to bed’ scenario and so on. Regardless of when it happens, it happens, and distraction is the biggest obstacle facing any writer with a mountain of work to get through, and I like to call these diversions the ‘sirens of distraction’.

Enter the saviour

Thankfully though there’s a ‘saviour’ to counter this major productivity killer. It may be one that comes dressed in funny retro 90’s ‘attire’, but it’s one that will help any writer to get the job done. That saviour comes in the form of the AlphaSmart Neo (or indeed any preceeding AlphaSmart model such as the 2000 and 3000), a simple, featureless word processing keyboard that contains a small, calculator-like screen. AlphaSmart Neos are primarily marketed towards schools and school children. Robust in construction with few components that can go wrong, Neos are perfect for the classroom environment, but many writers have also discovered just how incredibly useful they can be.

Sure, Neos could be considered older technology but don’t let that put you off whatsoever, because the Neo’s strength comes not from having ‘bells and whistle’ features, but rather from not having them. It’s just a basic word processer with a screen, and nothing else. No Internet! No games! No music! No nothing! – except a purpose as a first-class tool for typing words. Minimal features means minimal distractions and that’s where the Neo’s strength comes from.

I say the Neo’s strength comes from what it doesn’t have, but that’s not strictly true because it possesses incredible strength in its in-built features too. First is the jaw-dropping 700 hours of battery life that lies under its olive ‘hood’ (black if it’s a Neo 2), battery life that comes from 3 ordinary off-the-shelf AA batteries. Second is the machine’s robustness. As I’ve mentioned before AlphaSmart Neos are designed for the classroom, so they’re built to take a bit of rough and tumble. Couple both of these primary features together and you not only have a machine that facilitates writing any time and almost anywhere, you also have a machine that by its very nature, actively encourages writing, because it’s inherently distraction-free and such an easy and pleasurable thing to use.

In my experience

I’ve owned my Neo now for 7 months and it’s absolutely revolutionised the way I write, and how often I write. Gone is the need to tether myself to a power supply. Gone is the need to find a completely safe environment in which to write. Gone is the waiting time needed to get up and running (because the Neo is also an ‘instant on’ machine). But most important of all – gone are the countless hours of writing time I’ve lost due to the sirens of distraction.

In fact I’ve gained hours, many hours simply due to that fact that the Neo facilitates writing so well. I find myself writing in places I never would have with a laptop – buses, trains, park benches etc. I’ve grown so attached to this writing freedom that I now actively seek out any and all writing opportunities, and more often than not, find them.

Give it some thought, please

So if you’re a writer or someone who does a lot of writing then I urge you to really give some thought to giving an AlphaSmart Neo a try. You can buy machines new for around £175 ($350), but if even that’s a price outside of your budget, then get yourself along to Ebay. You can usually pick up a used model (especially the older 2000/3000 models),  a lot cheaper, and unlike a 2nd-hand laptop which may be a bit of a dodgy buy, AlphaSmarts are practically bullet-proof so the risk of anything being wrong with them is slim (although not certainly unheard of).

Writing guaranteed

I guarantee once you start using an AlphaSmart Neo you won’t want to stop, and you’ll quickly wonder how you managed to live without one. More importantly you’ll find that your writing productivity improve massively as your Neo gives you the urge to look for writing opportunities. What’s more you’ll find those opportunities and at the same time be pleasantly surprised at just how many unexpected writing opportunities reveal themselves. But most important of all the sirens of distraction will be beaten. You’ll set out in the morning to get that pile of writing done (or whatever time of day you do your writing) and in no time at all you’ll have it all ‘ticked off’. Then you can go back and treat yourself to that mindless bout of web surfing )