A personal information manager (often referred to as a PIM tool or, more simply, a PIM) is a type of application software that functions as a personal organizer. The acronym PIM is now, more commonly, used in reference to Personal information management as a field of study. As an information management tool, a PIM tool's purpose is to facilitate the recording, tracking, and management of certain types of "personal information".
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Some PIM software products are capable of synchronizing data with another PIM tool over a computer network, including mobile ad-hoc networks, or MANETs. This feature usually does not allow for continuous, concurrent data updates, but rather enables point-in-time updating between different computers, including desktop computers, laptop computers, and personal digital assistants.
Prior to the introduction of the term “PDA” by Apple in 1992, handheld personal organizers such as the Sharp Wizard and the Psion Organiser were also referred to as "PIMs".[1][2]
Personal Information manager technology has been heavily discussed in the past decade due to constant bouts of criticism and praise. These modern managing technologies have been said to change the way our brains work by neurologists who are concerned with humans' ability to interact effectively and with modifying their capacity to the fullest potential.[3] Additionally, studies are currently being conducted to determine how the use of PIM tools such as lists, calendars, address books, etc. affect today's youth. Currently, one third of the average youth's waking hours are spent using a technological tool's screen.[4] Campaigns for lessening the public's use of PIM tools and new communications technologies through "media abstinence" are becoming increasingly popular.
On the contrary, while an increasing number of people seem to become addicted to PIM tools and other new communications technologies,[5] these technologies are growing in praise for their ability to connect people and effectively keep them connected while increasing organization and allowing for new brain function mechanisms.
The time management and communications functions of PIMs largely migrated from PDAs to smartphones, with RIM (Research In Motion), Apple and others all manufacturing smartphones that offer most if not all of the functions of earlier PDAs. The convergence of many communications technologies, including telephone, email, social media, news and journalism, and radio transmission, in a compact, ubiquitous device, along with the ability of these devices to create, transmit and publish voice, text, photos and video almost instantaneously is a development that many social commentators expect will revolutionize the way humans interact with each other, and with government and the media.
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