Cognitive-Prosthetic

A couple weeks ago, my mom said she wished she didn’t have to have a phone because of all the spam she gets.

I agreed, but for a different reason.

For me, the phone is often harder to use. Small screens, touch gestures, mobile-first layouts, and apps designed around visual scanning can all become physically and cognitively exhausting. A lot of the time, I wish I could just use my computer.

The productivity advice says: use a second brain. Pick a note-taking app, capture everything, link ideas, review weekly. Build a system and trust it.

I’ve tried most of the popular options. Notion collapsed under its own visual complexity. Obsidian’s graph view is a spatial nightmare for someone with topographical agnosia. Roam required too much upfront structure on days when I have nothing left for structure. Apple Notes doesn’t persist across my fragmented hardware setup.